Talk About Imbalance
by FreeJayFly
Summary: Next Gen Pokémon fic taking place six years after the initial trek of Ash and his friends. Now with new trainers and new challenges, it seems that the balance of Pokémon is threatened once again.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

Beyond the windows and past the horizon, the land was still dark... the flowers were curled up tightly, awaiting the sun's first days rays upon them so that they could slowly rouse and wake from their slumber. However... even as the land, people and Pokémon still slept, there was one that was awake before the shrill ring of her alarm clock had gone off. In fact, this girl had arisen from her bed about an hour prior to the actual ringing of her clock, getting all of the things that she needed to be getting out of the way said and finished.

Just about everything had been all done. All the things that she needed were packed away in a rather bulky messenger bag that remained on her bed as she laced up the multicolour laces that were woven to keep her shoes secured and bound to her feet for the journeys that she was about to set out on. Whether she met new faces or not was yet to be determined at the moment, however, it was inevitable if she were going be traveling from where she was now to be going into the Indigo League someday!

Standing back up straight and assuring her shoes were on securely, Dixie threw a fist into the air with much enthusiasm and then swiftly grabbed the black and multicolour bag from her bed. She swiftly and silently made it to the door of her room, opening it slightly only to have it creak, it sounding a lot louder than she had remembered it so be. Perhaps it was because of her nervousness and determination of getting out of the house silently, though quickly that had a minor role to attribute to how it was the creaking had sounded to her ears; for what this girl wanted was to make it out of the house without alerting her aunt to her presence.

Looking out and checking both sides of the hall, the dark-haired girl adjusted the red barrettes that were in her hair, pinning her bangs back and then tiptoed to the stairs, the wood underneath her weight seeming to squeak loudly after every step she took. It made her grow even more nervous about sneaking around -- she thought if all of this continued, there was no doubt that her aunt or at least some of the Pokémon that lived in the same household would awaken and impede her initial trek to Professor Oak's laboratory. That wouldn't have been good as far as she was concerned, she wanted to get there as early as possible to get her very own Charmander companion. So long had she been looking forward to this day ever since she filled out the trainer's application to be going in to be eligible for a Pokémon from the lab.

Nearing the stairs, the dark-haired took a look down then and then turned her gaze to her aunt's bedroom door. It was still closed... okay, so that was a good thing.

Reaching over, the girl placed a hand upon the railing of the stairs and started downwards, trying to calm her thinking from all the thoughts that raced and coursed through her mind. So many scenarios playing through her mind with her brand new Charmander companion. Oh... just how it would be like to finally be on her own journey with her very own Pokémon. The thoughts were so exhilarating to her.

"Up awfully early, Miss Dixie..." came an older woman's voice in the direction of the kitchen that caused the dark-haired girl to freeze in place all together and slowly turn her emerald gaze over to where the kitchen table was. As she did, she saw her Aunt Sicily sitting there with a cup of freshly brewed coffee in her hands. The smell was rather pungent in the air, how did Dixie not notice this before? Her mind must have been far too occupied with the thoughts of having that new Charmander started at her side to really notice it.

"Auntie..." was all that escaped from Dixie's mouth for the time being before she averted her gaze to the greenhouse that had been built onto the home. She bit at her bottom lip for a moment and then spoke up again, "Auntie Sicily... I... I didn't think you'd be up this early..." at that, he girl took a folded up note from her pocket and then gave a sheepish chuckle, "I-I guess I don't need this anymore. It was a note telling you that I had left for Professor Oak's to get my starter and head out on my journey."

"Tut, tut, Dixie..." Sicily scolded for a moment, pushing brown bangs from obscuring her vision and giving Dixie a rather stern look, "you know that I worry for you, Dixie... leaving here with only a note left behind isn't a very good way to start. You left your parents and allowed for them to say goodbye... well, after these two years of having you stay here, I'm going to have to see you off as well." She smiled to Dixie, raising from the table and making her way over to the preteen, her wavy, long brown hair bouncing with each step she took.

"Aw, Aunt Cici..." Dixie started again, using the nickname that she had given her aunt for those past aforementioned years that Sicily had talked about. She rose her green eyes to meet with the blue ones that her aunt had and saw her aunt lean down, placing her lips upon her forehead, giving the young girl a soft kiss and then standing back up straight.

"I'm going to miss you, kiddo..." Sicily said, smiling down to Dixie. The girl kept her gaze up to her aunt, giving a slight smile back.

"I'll miss you, too, Auntie," Dixie replied, shifting her messenger bag slightly and turning her gaze back to the door of the greenhouse. Sicily followed her gaze, placed a hand on the girl's shoulder and then motioned her over to it, opening the door and turning on the lighting, creating the artificial sunlight that slowly roused the grass-type Pokémon that were housed within. As the plant Pokémon opened their tired eyes, their attention averted from the nothing that they had their eyes set upon to Sicily and then to Dixie.

"Well everyone... this is your time to come here and wish Dixie farewell..." Sicily said to the Pokémon, "she's leaving for her very own journey today... won't be seeing her for a while."

With that, Hoppip, Skiploom and Jumpluff hovered over to the girl, using either their tiny feet or arms to cling onto her, silently begging her not to be gone for too long. Oddish and Gloom had unearthed themselves enough to look to the girl, though they didn't make their way over, as they were semi-rooted in the specially prepared soil that was specifically for them.

Raising her hands to pat the animal-like plant-type Pokémon that clung to her, Dixie smiled to them and then said, "it's alright guys... I'll be sure to come back to visit. You guys are my friends, after all. Hehe."

Hearing her words, the Pokémon acknowledged them and then let go of her, leaving her to Sicily and the rest of the day that still had yet to actually begin. Sicily had gone over to remove the greenhouse coverings with the push of a button, the screening overhead retracting and opening up to the now lightening sky. Upon seeing that as she turned off the lights of the greenhouse, Sicily motioned Dixie out and then to the front door of the house.

"Listen Dixie... I know the whole ordeal that Professor Oak may be telling you... but just remember, it's a very big world out there and a whole bunch of things can happen. Keep on your toes, alright, kiddo? Of the two years that I've gotten to spent time with you, I know you've got a good hold of that head of yours..." she gave another swift kiss to Dixie's forehead and then rose her hand to stroke the back of her head.

"I'll be sure to be careful, Auntie," Dixie assured, smiling up to Sicily and adjusting her bag again.

"You'd better..." Sicily replied, "oh... there is something else that I wanted you to have, Dixie." Sicily left the girl at the front door for a few seconds and then reappeared with something in her grasp. What it was was something that piqued Dixie's interest and she tried looking for a way to see if there was some how see it better to get a clue as to what it was.

"Here, Dixie... just in case you ever need anything..." Sicily then held out what it was that she had in her hands and revealed the item to be a PokéGear. Dixie stared at it in awe and then rose a hand to put it over it.

"B-but Aunt Cici... I couldn't..." Dixie said, looking at the device.

"It's yours, little Miss Dix..." Sicily responded, turning over her hand and placing it firmly within Dixie's grasp, "it'll come in real useful... and you can even contact us with it if you have to. Your elder sister's number is already programmed into it as well as your parents' and my own. Just take it as a parting gift from me, alright? I got it just for you."

Her fingers curled around the device and Dixie smiled up to her aunt, "of course, Auntie... thank you so much," she stepped forwards and hugged Sicily, "like I said before, I promise to come back to visit. You can count on it!"

"Atta girl... now you keep strong and you hurry to Professor Oak's before you're late."

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The sun was just peaking over the horizon and a boy was making his way over the crest of a hill, a scruffy looking Growlithe by his side. His appearance seemed very worn, and the backpack that was slung over his shoulder sported small tears from the traveling that he had done. However... to him, this was all worth it. From Fuschia to Pallet Town, just so he could finally be getting his own starter. The journey had been long, and in some cases, rather rough, but thanks to the Growlithe companion that trekked beside him the whole time, things weren't as challenging as they could have been were he to have been alone.

"Heh... look at that, Fang.... Looks like we've finally made it here," the boy looked down to the Growlithe, it's fur shining dully in the sun's first rays upon the land. The Growlithe yipped up at the boy and then started forwards once again, turning back and looking to the boy, remaining loyal to staying by his side for as long as it would take, or until the boy were to return him to his PokéBall capsule.

Giving a silent laugh, the boy started forwards once again, "coming, boy, I'm coming...." At that, the Growlithe yipped happily once again and trotted forwards, stopping every now and then to be pacing alongside his owner.

Fang wasn't much of a battling Pokémon, no.... He and this boy, they had grown up together... and even though one was human and the other beast, they were like brothers. The boy refused to call Fang a pet, but a friend and a very good companion. To him, the Growlithe was his very best friend... he had grown up with it, turned to it when the other kids would make fun of him, tell it his secrets because he felt it to be the only thing alive that he could trust. Sure... there were his older brothers... but like any other siblings, there always came sibling rivalry... and with them, it was hard for this teen to cope with them more than half the time, causing him to only turn to a Pokémon for any kind of support.

Keeping up along the trail, the boy had made it to the gates to the lab of Pallet Town and he looked up to the building, shoving his hands into his pockets and then lowering his gaze to Fang. He gave a small sigh and then withdrew a hand from his pocket, reaching up for the gates handles, not noticing the quick pattering that was slowly growing louder.

Fang, on the other hand, noticed this and then stood in a defensive stance, growling and capturing the boy's attention. What they saw was a girl running towards the gates, her bag flopping rather vigorously against her side as she did. The boy couldn't help but to quirk a brow at this. There was another out here... this early? He had an excuse to be out this early... but the girl looked as if she were recently bathed, dressed and prepped for what was going on.

Must have been from around here.

Fang gave a bark as the girl neared them, startling her and causing her to slip forwards, grabbing onto the boy and falling down onto the ground.

"O-owe..." the girl whined as she had fallen face-down against he ground, the boy having been pulled down with her. He jerked his arm away from the girl and then stood back up, giving a highly annoyed look in the girl's direction before sighing and offering her a hand. She had pushed herself back up to sitting on her knees and shook her hands slightly as she looked up to the boy. After a moment or two, she hesitantly took the boy's outstretched hand and gotten helped up.

"I'm very sorry about that, I didn't mean to fall... just... the Growl--..." the girl stopped in mid-sentence and looked down to Fang. It was apparent that she had actually never seen one for real before. There's was a certain pulling in her being that wanted to bend down and pet it, but it seemed that it wouldn't have allowed for her to do that, as it still stood in his defensive stance, the fur along the ridge of his back standing up to make him look more intimidating.

The boy shook his head and then took a PokéBall, calling back the fire-type Pokémon. He then turned his attention to the girl, "it's fine... I'm not hurt."

"Oh, okay, well that's good!" the girl responded, grinning up at him and then grabbing the handles of the gates and pushing them open. She took a moment to look back to the black-haired male and then introduced herself, "by the way, I'm Dixie! Dixie Tucker! It's really nice to meet you... uh..."

"Jaxx."

"Oh, Jaxx! Okay, nice to meet you!" Dixie happily chirped, starting towards the lab, slightly clapping her gloved hands togeher to get the stinging sensation out of them.

"Sad to say I can't say the same about you..." Jaxx had muttered under his breath, following after the walking rainbow of a girl and raising a hand to his necklace. The crescent moon charm that dangled from it shone dully in what little light the sun provided at the moment, but it gave him satisfaction knowing that the charm was still there and had been ever since receiving it.

Jaxx snapped out of his thoughts as soon as Dixie's rapping across the door reverberated through the air. Just went to show how one was highly enthusiastic about what was to be going on that very day. It slightly amused Jaxx to think about that, however, he still didn't find a way to like this new girl that had tumbled into him upon meeting. In a way, he was thinking that she would be just like all the other kids that he had met in Fuschia and would turn to being one of those girls that seemed nice at first, but then, like the others, would snub him when she got the chance.

Whatever... he would just get his starter and go. He didn't need to be worrying about this girl and her apparently bubbly nature. It was probably all just a show anyways.

The door to the lab opened and a very sleepy Professor Oak stood there, rubbing at his eyes and looking down to the two kids that were there. A small grin had found it's way upon the professor's mouth and he opened the door wider, motioning for the two kids to come in, "hello, welcome to the Oak Laboratory," he chimed with long practiced ease.

He took in the two soon-to-be trainers carefully, appraising their readiness. The girl was colorful, she looked like she wore a Smeargle's pallet, and he liked that. It meant she was more than likely a cheerful person, ready to make friends with the Pokémon she would be capturing on her journey. The boy, on the other hand, was more reserved. The fact that he seemed more quite was something that Oak took a rather fond liking to. The boy would be calm and collected in his wanderings.

Ah... the many varying types of trainers never ceased to amaze Oak, and his eyes closed in content at the aspiring trainers before him. "Please, come in you two, it might be early, but I certainly don't want you two waiting outside forever."

Doing as they were told, both Dixie and Jaxx had made their way into the front of the lab and then were instructed to follow after Professor Oak as he led them to a room that had a table in the center with three glistening PokéBalls upon it -- each one with their very own marking on it: a leaf, a water droplet and a fire emblem.

"So... so do we get to see them, huh?" Dixie asked, almost bouncing with sheer excitement as she turned her gaze from the PokéBalls upon the table to Professor Oak.

"Soon enough, soon enough. Now then...," he placed a hand upon a table, fingers resting upon the hard, metallic surface.

"I am, as you know, Professor Oak. I study the relationship between humans and Pokémon as a profession." He gave the speech to all of them, all the young trainers, hoping to prepare them for the wide world they faced out there.

"The world we live in is vast and there are still many Pokémon species we have yet to discover. You will see many wonders on your journey as a Trainer, and no matter what your future holds, you must always head towards the horizon." Sometimes he wondered if young Trainers thought he was just a great windbag... perhaps they did... perhaps they did not.

Grinning regardless of his wonderings, he eyed the eagerness in the girl, Dixie, and he also watched the young boy. Ah... his name escaped his memory. Jak...? Jacks? No... Jaxx, yes. That was it. He really needed to review the requests sent to him for new Trainers more carefully before they came flocking to his door. Beyond knowing their names, he knew very little of the soon-to-be Trainers before him other than what he could gather from their personalities. And so, as was customary, though he hated making them have to endure what must seem like a torturous wait to get what they were really here for, he continued in his rambling.

"But first, before we get to your starters, tell me a little about yourselves." He waited patiently for their replies. It was key that he learn about them. Though they would be able to choose their own Pokémon from the three he would provide, he also needed to know that said Pokémon were going into good and capable hands.

Taking in a deep breath and looking to the boy once again, Dixie turned her attention to Oak and started off, "well, I'm Dixie Tucker, I'm ten years old and I come from Saffron City. I've been looking really forward to getting a Charmander companion ever since I started living here with my Aunt Sicily. Though, aside from that, I would say that my most favourite Pokémon is actually Smeargul-- just because they love to paint and are all colourful!" Grinning a bit, Dixie continued, "I actually used to have a Smeargul friend when I was attending a daycare in Saffron, I called him Arty. Hmm... I also think that traveling the region and battling at the gyms to earn league status would be something really awesome to achieve."

Dixie stopped talking and looked back to the boy, tilting her head somewhat. She had gone on long enough. This boy was someone that was getting their starter, and Oak had addressed the _both_ of them-- if wouldn't have been fair of Dixie to have kept going on without giving him a chance to have been telling Oak of himself, now would it? ... Certainly not, that was for sure in her mind.

"Anyways... now that I'm done," Dixie smiled over to the boy that stood a good couple feet away from her, "it's your turn!"

He gave an inaudible scoff. Like he needed her permission... oh well, best let the younger one feel inclined to do so, no one was exactly sure what was going to happen if she didn't get what she wanted when she wanted. Lifting his head, he looked over to the Professor, then to Dixie -- back to the Professor once more.

Nothing was all that interesting about him though, he was just a normal kid from his home town, he was no hero, nothing that was really worthy of writing a long, exquisite book about somewhat like the ones that lined the shelves in the building currently being visited by them. That's what he thought, anyways.

Hnh... always seemed like he was being pressured into these things in some way or another.

Taking in a short breath, he exhaled, closing his eyes momentarily before starting, "Jaxx Meola from Fuschia City."

"I came here with my Growlithe that's been in my family for some years, he isn't much, but he's family enough," he paused, unsure of where to go from there. "Don't really have a favorite Pokémon... Don't think much of fighting and training either..."

Awkwardly, it seemed his nice speech had come to an end. Opening his eyes, he looked over to Dixie, giving her a slightly odd look that seemed to speak _"Are you satisfied?"_. However, that didn't last for that long as he looked back to the Professor, giving a slight nod -- at least that way he could continue on what he was doing now; the reason they were bother here.

Oak nodded in satisfaction, eyes closed as he listened to the two childrens' voices prattle or mutter away their short biographies for him. Yes, yes. They seemed like they would do fine. He opened his eyes and nodded to Dixie. "It's a wonderful thing to take the Gym Challenge and aspire to fight against the Leagues -- and it takes quite some doing to get to that stage. But, come the day you walk down Victory Road, you will find nothing but happiness in where you have gotten, should that be where you truly wish to go in your journey."

And then Oak turned to Jaxx, eyes crinkling at the corners knowingly. "Nor is there anything wrong with disliking battles. Many people see Pokémon as pets or as long time companions, seeking never to battle with them. There is fulfillment to be found in coexisting with Pokémon without battle, just as there is in finding it with. Whatever path you choose," he turned to look at them both, "none of them are wrong."

Turning back to the the table, Oak held out a hand out to the capsules that contained the three Pokémon he offered. "Now, without any further lectures or ados, I present you with your three choices. Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle. Bulbasaur, the Seed Pokémon, is a grass and poison-type. Charmander, which is the Lizard Pokémon, is a fire-type. Then finally, there is Squirtle, the Tiny Turtle Pokémon, which is a water-type."

Professor Oak pointed to each capsule as he explained them. Then his hand moved over and depressed another button, and each capsule opened in turn. The three Pokémon stood upon the table, each eying the potential trainers in their own way.

"It is up to you two to make the choice as to which you would like to have, but choose wisely, because your starter Pokémon will grow to be a great companion in your years to come."

Giving an inaudible sigh, Dixie pushed away the impatience that was starting to boil up and through her persona as Professor Oak explained to them each individual starter that he had there. She had already stated that she had been wanting a Charmander, and that wasn't going to change.

Unless....

Dixie turned her gaze to Jaxx for a moment, wondering what starter it was that he would be wanting. She already knew that he had a Growlithe with him... so why was he here if he already had a Pokémon, huh? Maybe he favoured fire types and wanted a Charmander for himself! That would really suck in Dixie's opinion, for had been looking really forward to making friends with her brand new Charmander friend.

No! Shaking her head a bit, Dixie looked back to where the Pokéballs were and watched as each of the three starters were released and were presented before herself and Jaxx. The curious eyes of the Pokémon peering at the two of them. Just seeing that made the girl feel giddy and happy all over again. There was a joy in seeing the young Pokémon just giving you that questioning look. Except... that Charmander... it didn't seem to be questioning or even slightly all that interested. It had looked to her and Jaxx and then turned away in what seemed to be disgust. In fact... there was something about that particular Charmander that piqued Dixie's interest -- he was a golden colour instead of an orange.

Making her way over to the Charmander, Dixie soon came to be facing the small creature and offered it a small smile. The Charmander gave her an unimpressed look and turned away with a 'hmpf!'

Laughing lightly, Dixie lightly poked his side, "aww... c'mon there, Charmander... don't be like that. You and me can be friends." Dixie watched as it slowly started to look back towards her -- though... his expression still not changing. The girl continued to smile at the small lizard Pokémon, hoping that the smile would soon show it that she meant him no harm whatsoever and truly did want to be his friend.

Jaxx watched after the dark haired girl. She sure seemed that she knew what she wanted and wasn't afraid to act upon it. Jaxx personally didn't care which one he was going to be given, which he chose, whatever the situation might have been. Either way he came out with a Pokémon -- and that was the purpose of the whole situation and process that they were undergoing.

Looking between the two, Jaxx motioned his eyes over to the Squirtle, noting its relatively welcoming expression... and of course, being an eleven year old, he figured it'd be easier to train that one and to have it like him in return. So, he paced over to the turtle slightly, holding out his hand in a friendly manner as it drew nearer.

Definitely a keeper.

"Professor, he's really cute! Why's he differently coloured?" Dixie's voice rang out.

In the corner of his eyes, Jaxx looked over to Dixie and to the Charmander that she had chosen as she had spoken up. It definitely was different from the one that his brother, Drew, had chosen a few years back, differently colored and whatnot. In fact, he too was intrigued by the question that the girl had asked to the professor -- wanting an answer.

The Professor's smile widened somewhat, seeing not one, but two sets of curious eyes peer up at him at the girl's question. "Ah, yes... his color," the professor absently began to pet the Bulbasaur. He could feel his intellectual urge to prattle off into a biological lecture about all the intricacies of the Pokémon genomes. That, however, would more than likely send the children into a coma from science-overload. Even Tracey sometimes let his mind wander when the Professor really started going...

"Well, the field studying Pokémon coloration is still a very new one, but there are researchers that have isolated a gene that they can attribute to the varying traits in Pokémon. It can lead to singular traits, such as a Roselia with different colored blossoms, or to something akin to the effect in this Charmander." He paused, pondering the subject. He would have to visit the University of Celadon, or at the very least, request some of the reports turned in there... perhaps coloration might effect human-Pokémon interactions as well.

"When I was young, the gene seemed to not be as prominent, but there have been more and more reports of alternately colored sightings. Perhaps you recall the incident a few years ago at the Lake of Rage near Mahogany Town, Johto? Well, the Gyarados there... wait. No. A picture speaks a thousand words, as Pokémon watchers tell me..."

With that, the professor turned around and made his way towards a large filing cabinet, he rifled through it for some time before finally pulling out a folder. And this too he dug through for some handful of seconds before pulling out a snapshot. He walked back over to the duo, pleased to see that the Squirtle had taken a liking to the boy as he made his way back over. He showed the picture to them, which clearly depicted a red Gyarados.

"You see? They are proven to be no different than the colors we consider normal, so there's nothing to fear should you see one. Think of it as different eye or hair colors."

Oh... just how Jaxx wanted to speak up, to correct the old man. Of course, that would be rude, and that was something that, even as the young child he was, he knew was worse than saying nothing at all. The way he had learned to see others thanks to his brother slightly differed from what this was.

Dixie, on the other hand, stared at the photograph in awe. All this talk of seeing differently coloured Pokémon was something that piqued her interest greatly. She had always been a kind of colourful person, and getting Pokémon that were multitudes of colours was something that just right up her alley. If anything, she wanted a team of colourful Pokémon that she befriended and caught and is able to scale the edges of the world with. It's been a dream for her-- and perhaps with this Charmander was where it started.

The male preteen was always taught to see what was on the inside rather than the outside. The first judging of appearance often led bias opinions and... well... didn't go far. Admittedly, he still did judge on occasion, though as a human, it's fairly hard not to. This Charmander wasn't any different from the others that were being placed out for selection other than its difference in species and abilities. It was no different to Jaxx than others of it's species.

"Wow... so cool. So, so... this Charmander is like... rare?" the girl's question bubbled up excitedly at the possibility that this Charmander was rarer, and he had to smile.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, he is. The gene is a very weak strain that causes the changes in color among Pokémon. It's grown stronger over the years, but you can go a lifetime without actually seeing one in person. In fact, this is the second I've seen myself, though I have many photos and documentatio--."

"Hehe... well, aren't you a special little fire-type, then?" she reached a hand over to pet the Charmander on the head before Professor Oak had finished his explanation only to have it met by his mouth clamping over her hand. His teeth dug into her flesh a bit, and the dark-haired girl bit her lower lip to keep from making any noise to notify those around her that it hurt. She had reacted rather admirably, though. She hadn't reacted to the pain beyond acknowledging it and she had stifled herself from uttering any noise at the pain. Oak nodded to himself with pleasure. This was good. The colourful girl had succeeded in keeping from startling the young creature and she had also refused to give it the upper hand.

The Squirtle that Jaxx had kept his attention on turned it's gaze over to Dixie and then so did his new trainer. Sure didn't seem like her to suddenly go quiet, though, as his eyes met with what was going on, he was given an answer. Teething perhaps? He wasn't sure just what to place it upon, though the lizard didn't seem all that willing to let go anytime soon. It was apparent that she was trying her best not to react, though in turn, that only made the situation more noticeable to someone who had grown up with younger Pokémon throughout the years due to his his eldest brother's breeder status.

Silently, he moved over, closer to the girl while remaining kneeling. Holding out his hand he stroked the Charmander under the jaw-- hoping to relax the muscles and tension in the process, causing him to loosen his hold. Jaxx's other hand rested overtop of Dixie's slowly gripping it and pulling back slightly after he started the stroking process with the other.

When Dixie felt a hand upon her own that she let out a very small, surprised gasp. Jaxx had come over to where she and the Charmander were, lightly taking hold of her hand and stroking underneath Charmander's jaw. Dixie rose her brow some as she felt the small lizard's grip on her hand start to wane and ease up. Jaxx had also lightly pulled her hand back and Dixie could feel herself becoming slightly flustered. Why was it that he could get it to let go of her and not be able to do it on her own?

Oak, himself, was rather surprised to see that Jaxx had stepped forward, and with an unmistakable breeder's touch, began to coax the Charmander to release the girl's hand. It was rather easy to see that he had grown up around young Pokémon already. Oak tried to recall Jaxx's application clearer, but last night's long studies fogged his memory. He did recall that Jaxx had shown up with a Growlithe of his own, so it was possibly he had grown up with or around a practiced breeder.

Oak shook his head. The types of young trainers that walked through his laboratory never ceased to amaze him.

Pulling her hand back away from Jaxx, Dixie looked to her hand and the small puncture marks where Charmander got her and gave a small sigh. Slowly, she put her other hand on top of the small bite marks and applied pressure to cease any and or all bleeding and then turned her gaze to be looking at Jaxx, "thank you... um..." she paused to take a moment to remember what his name was, "Jaxx...."

Standing up, he brushed off the knees of his jeans, continuing to look over at the Charmander, "don't mention it" Jaxx murmured slightly. She had called him by name... that was one sign that it was more sincere than just a simple 'I need to say this due to common courtesy' type of ordeal. Hm... it felt good for some odd reason. Normally he wasn't one to go out of his way to try and gain popularity or whatever; he did it because he felt inclined to do so. It was just nice to have appreciation, that rare feeling. Perhaps she was different from the other kids that he knew after all.

The Charmander gave a small snort in the preteens' direction and turned away once again with a 'hmpf'. Dixie turned her attention back to the golden lizard for a moment and then gave a small smile, "you know... maybe... if I gave you a name, things would be a little easier between the two of us, huh?" She watched as the Charmander's gaze averted back to her, it's interest slightly piqued, however, it's expression still holding that unimpressed look. Again, it gave a snort, however, this time not with as much attitude as it did the last time.

"Zalaras," Dixie's grin widened, "your name shall be Zalaras from here on out!"

The Charmander blinked a couple of times, shrugged and laid down, yawning loudly-- still obviously resistant to going on any sort of 'adventure' with this... person that just decided to waltz up and decide that he was the starter for her.

"Well. That's quite the start for you two." Oak laughed at his own joke. He assumed the Charmander would come around eventually on the girl. He has already, though only a little, starting to let her grow on him. He had accepted the name it seemed and it hadn't out right lashed at her. It would take some time, oh yes, Oak grinned knowingly, recalling a particular trainer. It could take time. But it would happen, and unbreakable bonds would be formed between trainer and starter.

"Now then..." Oak walked over to one of the counters surrounding the laboratory. He opened a metal case there, and pulled out two of the many red devices contained within it in a type of protective, black foam. They glimmered in the sun light. Each had a type of camera on the top, as well as a cover to protect the data screen. Though they had gone through many models throughout the years, it was unmistakable what they were. PokéDexs.

He walked back over to the duo once more. "This is my invention, as you may know, the PokéDex. It automatically records data on Pokémon you've seen or caught. It's a hi-tech encyclopedia. Jaxx and Dixie. Take these with you."

Oak sighed slightly as he held out the devices to the two children, reminiscing. It had been a dream once, long ago... He had wanted to make a complete record of all the Pokémon in the world. But age caught up with him. It was for this reason he had invented the PokéDex. To send Trainers off into the world with a device that could record on sighting the data about a Pokémon they saw. It was brilliant. What was more, each time they connected to a PC with the device, it would transfer the data to a mainframe. This information would be published for all Trainers to see, far and wide. Slowly, facts would be collected in a database. It was a marvel to see his dream come true in such a way.

As soon as Professor Oak had come back to both she and Jaxx, he had in his hands, a red device that Dixie had seen her sister make off on her journey with. A PokéDex. Oh, how she had also been waiting for the day that she, herself, had gotten her hands on one of _those_. It was like a pocket digital encyclopaedia on Pokémon... no, wait... that's exactly what it was, wasn't it? And included in all that technological jazz, it was also something that proved Trainer status to those that were curious of the holder of the Dex.

"These signify you two as liscenced Pokémon Trainers, as well as catalog data for you as you journey across the land."

To the male preteen, the PokéDex sounded like some sort of cereal, though Jaxx really knew that that wouldn't help all that much with helping to catch Pokémon and see the world some more... Though, things were cleared up as his gaze fell upon the devices. Jaxx simply took his, flipping through the various functions that it served, nothing much more than just a simple catalog it seemed, lots of different types; some that he'd never even seen before.

Reaching a hand out to take a hold of her very own PokéDex, Zalaras had gotten up from his laying down position and leaped up. Before Dixie had gotten a hold of the Dex, Zalaras had grabbed a hold of it in his jaws, giving them all this slightly smug look. Dixie frowned a bit and looked over to Zalaras, going over and crouching over next to him with a slightly pleading look on her face.

Starting from the front and moving onward, Jaxx stopped as he noticed the Charmander, looking between the one that Dixie had received and the one illustrated in the picture. Obviously there was something different about that one's appearance, and... probably -- no, most likely its personality, seeing as Dixie's was currently stealing the device from her before she could even flip through.

"Aw, c'mon Zalaras... that's not the way to be acting..." here, the dark-haired girl held out her hand once again to the small fire-type Pokémon and replaced her frown with a small smile, "now... will you please give me the PokéDex? I would really like to have it...."

Shaking his head Jaxx continued once again, pausing at the ringing of bells towards a certain picture. It was Squirtle's, the one that the professor had given him was just like the one in the picture, so nothing to special about that.

"Heh," He started, turning around the device to show the turtle, "Looks just like you..."

Obviously there was some sarcasm in his words, you'd have to be deaf not to tell. The Squirtle was a tad frustrated at first, though that was calmed down some by a slight smirk granted by Jaxx. Quickly, he drew back his device, closing it and placing it in his pocket, looking over to the Charmander, then to the professor.

That thing certainly wasn't wanting to go anywhere, that was for sure... and placing it in a Pokéball wasn't going to help anything at all.

Turning his gaze upwards, Zalaras growled somewhat at Dixie and then looked to Professor Oak for some kind of reassurance. After being in the lab for most of his time, Zalaras had really only become close to him and a select few aides that were running around here and there. Even then, however, Zalaras had proven himself to be quite the spoiled acting handful. His clench on the PokéDex did not waver... and it wasn't going to be anytime soon. If this slowed down the 'adventure going', then so be it. Zal wasn't keen on leaving, and he was going to be making that very apparent with the way that he decided to act.

Professor Oak lit a knowing smile down at the Charmander as it gazed up at him with it's dark eyes. He had expected a reaction like this from the tiny creature. The tiny lizard had been quite the bundle to raise. Oak remembered many a singed coats due to this one. But he was fond of the creature nevertheless. he was fond of all of them, of course. Oak knew, however, that no starter could stay in his lab for an eternity, and the Charmander was quite ready to leave, it just didn't realize it.

"Professor..." Dixie started, frowning again and looking up at him, "I really don't want to put him back into his PokéBall just because of the way he's acting... if I do... then that wouldn't be a way for me and him to becoming friends any faster.... I refuse to let his temperament to get to me, but he seems very resistant to this whole thing, and if kind of worries me about what will be going on in later journeys with him."

Nodding at the girl's statement when it came, Oak had come to admiring this girl's way of thinking. It would be difficult for her to achieve a friendship with the Charmander, but Oak felt if anyone could do it, it may very well be Dixie Tucker. Tucking his hands in his pockets, Oak addressed the problem.

"You are very wise for you age to not force him to return. Running from a problem will never solve it, only delay it. As for your future journeys... only you and he can decide how they will go. For this, though, I will help you."

Again, the Chamander gave a small growl, this time, it ending with a snort.

The Professor knelt down near Zalaras and patted him lightly on the head, holding his hand out for the Pokédex. He would not take it from Zalaras, but rather wait for him to hand it over willingly.

"Come now, little one. I know you're reluctant, but in remaining here you will only harm yourself. Without expanding your horizons, you will not grow nor mature. The first step is always the hardest, even for the starter, not just for the trainer. You're trusting yourself to someone unknown... and it takes a brave creature indeed to do so."

Continuing to hang onto the Dex, the Charmander gave a slight growl as Professor Oak made his way over to him. He was still too young to understand some things, but what the professor had been explaining to him was something that had gotten to the small, golden lizard. Hesitantly, Zalaras crept forwards, his movements somewhat stiff. Though, instead of heading towards Professor Oak, Zalaras had gone in Dixie's direction. He wasn't all that happy about it, but there was something within him that aspired to be one of the greatest fire Pokémon that wandered the surface. Slowly, it moved forwards, raising his head towards the girl, his grip on the PokéDex slackening.

At the motions, Dixie smiled and knelt down, holding her hand out to Zalaras, "hehe... s-see there, Zal? You and me really can be friends," at this, Dixie gingerly put her other hand on top of Zalaras' head and the small lizard dropped the Dex in her hand. Looking to it for a brief moment, Dixie gave a small chuckle, "well, at least I'll be able to tell my PokéDex apart from others."

The Dex now had four nice little indents on it, two on the front and two in the back. It wasn't something that Dixie really minded at all. As long as the PokéDex was still functional, she'd be A-OK with it.

Moving back from her hand, Zalaras gave a slightly defiant look, looked to Professor Oak and then sighed in slight defeat. It's not like he had a choice of staying or going anymore. This girl had chosen him to be her starter Pokémon, and he couldn't change that. No matter how fond he grew of the laboratory or the people that worked in it, he supposed it was finally his time to be getting out and exploring the world. It was an exciting thought for him... he just didn't really want to do it with the accompaniment of a human.

Dixie turned her gaze to Jaxx and she smiled up at him, "hey, hey! You're probably going to be going in the same direction as I am... do you mind traveling together at all?"

The dark-haired male was a little more preoccupied with his own Pokémon for the time being, and failed to hear most of what Dixie had to say. The Squirtle moved over slightly taking a hold of Jaxx's long-sleeved shirt, tugging on it slightly, pointing over to Dixie. Jaxx arched a brow at this motion; was there something going on he wasn't sure about? Turning his head slightly, he looked to the younger girl.

... Yup, he totally wasn't listening.

"What?"

"Do you mind traveling together? I mean... since we're most likely going in the same direction and stuff."

Looking away for a moment, he stroked the top of his Squirtle's head rewardingly. Squirtle obviously enjoyed it, giving a grin and moving a tad more closer to his trainer. Well, at least they were bonding well, and they had much more luck than Dixie did with her Charmander.

But... traveling with Dixie? Dixie. He'd barely known her for more than an hour and she was expecting him to follow her? Jaxx, honestly, had just planned on heading home; traveling was something that he wasn't sure he wanted to do or take part in.

There had been reasons he tried to delay this as much as possible; he didn't want to have to train. Maybe if he went with her he wouldn't have to... and Drew and Haku would understand, heck, they'd even be glad he was at least talking to someone.

Looking back to her again, he gave a slight nod, "Sure... if you want me there, I guess."

Dixie beamed as Jaxx had said that and clapped her hands together. Oh, how it was going to be great to be traveling with someone for some of the way. However... parting ways... that may have been quite the painful task, should it ever come up. Dixie had a like and want to be with people for as long as she could stay with them. So... for however long that this journey with Jaxx would last, Dixie would be sure to cherish it for that time, just like she would cherish her time bonding and slowly becoming friends with the golden Charmander, Zalaras.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

"These are for you. You may know, that once you capture a full team of six Pokémon, the next one you obtain will be transported to the PC. Your Pokédex will handle the transportation, and you can access the PC at any of the Poké Centers across the land. And... I am afraid... it is with my giving these to you that our meeting has begun to come to its closing."

Professor Oak frowned a little, perhaps one of the first times he had done so in the past hour. He always hated to see starters leave. Hated, but loved. He remembered his own reckless journeys when he was younger, and it always made him glad to meet the young Trainers that wished to make their own. And in turn, it always upset him to see them go, wishing for what he could not have anymore at his ripe age. Ah, but he had lived a good life, and so there was no reason for self-pity! With that in mind, he gave them another smile.

Dixie and Jaxx took the five other PokéBalls from Professor Oak that accompanied both Squirtle's and Zalaras' own, The colourfully dressed girl looked to the fire symbol on the one for the golden lizard and put the other capsules in her messenger bag. As for Jaxx... he had to juggle the capsules in his hold before getting them balanced enough and attaching them to a chain that dangled at his side.

The dark-haired girl looked to Zalaras' capsule more. Symbols on a PokéBall... seemed to be a good idea to tell the difference of what Pokémon it was that Dixie was going to be sending into battle or calling upon for aid. She took mental note of this and was going to make sure to mark her PokéBalls for future reference.

The system that surrounded the PokéBall seemed very high-tech, very secure... trust-worthy. Seemed that everything was going to be fine. And apparently, both parties had someone to go on this journey with now... perhaps things were better than what they had thought of them from the beginning.

Opening her bag, she stuck five of the PokéBalls in a pouch and then made her way back over to Zalaras. Crouching down, Dixie knelt beside him and then showed him the PokéBall. The golden lizard winced and edged away some.

Giving a slight shake of the head and putting the PokéBall away, Dixie held out her hand to Zalaras and then said to him, "don't worry Zal... I'm not going to keep you in the PokéBall if you don't want.... I just wanna be friends with you. Together, we'll be traveling, doesn't if sound exciting?"

Holding out one of the balls, Jaxx rolled his eyes at the girl and then he withdrew his Squirtle, looking down at the ball as it disappeared within. It was his, it was in there... his responsibility in his hands. He nodded up at the professor, and offered a simple, "thanks... for everything." With that, he had made for the front of the laboratory, figuring that both Dixie and the stubborn Charmander would soon catch up.

The Professor nodded at the thanks, "you're most welcome. And best of luck to you, of course," he called after the boy as he left. That boy sure was a quiet one... perhaps this was a good thing, though, Oak mused. If Dixie and Jaxx would be traveling together, well, Dixie had enough energy and spunk for the both of them. That, and the Squirtle he had chosen suited him well... and for that, Oak was pleased.

It was then that the Bulbasaur snorted, bringing Oak back out of his musing. Oak patted it once more. "Yes, yes, my young friend. Your turn will come soon enough as well." With that said, he turned to Dixie once more, perhaps for the last time.

Not paying much attention to either Jaxx or the professor at the moment, Dixie was still crouched next to Zalaras and then said, "so what do you say, huh, Zal? You and me, the dynamic duo? The dream team? Anything?" continuing to hold her hand out to Zalaras, Dixie watched as the lizard stood up on his hind legs and get up, going over to her, turning his head away and offering a small hand. Dixie's grin widened at the act and she shook his hand gingerly.

Smiling down to her as she and the Charmander seemed to be bonding, Professor Oak placed a hand on her shoulder and the girl let go of Zalaras' small hand, getting up. Oak began to walk her back to the entrance of the lab, following the way Jaxx had walked back out. He would see them off, watching from the doorway, until they turned the corner into Pallet and onward into the wilds of Route One.

At the door way, he knelt down once more and pulled a PokéBlock from his coat pocket and offered it to Zalaras. "Here you go, little fellow. Take care of yourself now and remember to grow. Straightening back up, Oak grinned at Dixie. "Well, Dixie Tucker, as with him, I wish you the best of luck."

"Oh, don't worry Professor Oak! Me and Zal'll become the best team Kanto's ever had! Count on it!" Ah yes, the preteen had dreams -- and with all of her hopes, she really wished to see this dream being carried out. She looked back down to Zalaras and met the Charmander's gaze with a friendly look. He returned the look only somewhat and then the duo were off and down on their way towards Route One.

"He--ey, Jaxx!" Dixie huffed, a little annoyed that he had left them behind as she and the golden lizard had caught up with him. She straightened up and looked at him with a grin and then said, "I thought we were going together! Just that excited to get going, or something?"

A slight scoff was exerted as Dixie said that. Jaxx never was one for excitement, especially over something as minor as beginning a journey that he'd already started. He left his home, came this way, he knew what was to be expected. He supposed that perhaps he was just a tad eager to start, though that was mostly through the fact that he felt some guilt for taking the Professor's time.

"Hehe. Can't say I blame you, though..." she looked down to Zalaras, "ain't that right, Zal?"

The Charmander gave a shrug, yawned and fell into step next to Dixie. At least he didn't have to be in his capsule... that was something right there that had earned a small bit of his respect for the girl.

Grinning for a moment, Dixie hurried to Jaxx's side and then looked down to Zalaras with a smile. The Charmander simply tilted his head at her and gave a slight huff, folding his little arms over his chest and trailing after both Dixie and the boy.

Trotting forwards just a bit, Dixie fell into step beside Jaxx and clasped her hands together. There was something comforting about traveling with him and Zalaras. Thinking of him for that brief moment, she turned her head and looked to the small golden lizard. He seemed to have this distant look on his face as he walked not too far behind the duo; seeing it made Dixie ponder about him for a moment.

Trailing behind the duo still yet, the Charmander yawned once more, not really paying attention to his surroundings, only following both the boy and the girl from watching them in his peripheral vision. There was so much to see, so much to do... he contemplated running away from them. However.... Zalaras rose his gaze to the girl that had chosen him as her starter. She was kind... she had given him a name... she had even allowed for his freedom from a PokéBall as the two traveled together.

As the golden lizard pondered about the girl, Dixie, herself, still watching him, wondering what was up.

Shrugging it off for a moment, Dixie looked up ahead, glancing at Jaxx for a moment and then fiddling with her gloves. There were times where she knew exactly what to talk about, then there were these times (like now) where she didn't know what to bring up at all. Dixie didn't really know a thing about Jaxx, so there wasn't something easy that she could bring up that they could discuss without it being awkward.

Getting lost in her own mind for a moment of what to bring up for discussion, noises went by unnoticed by Dixie... that is until Jaxx had snapped her out of her thoughts by saying, "Dixie... Do you hear that?"

Blinking for a moment, Dixie looked up at Jaxx and then looked around, "do I hear wha--?" she had started before the call of a Sentret rang out like a siren to the others that lived around the area. Dixie kind of felt giddy at the thought of being able to catch one and then looked to the messenger bag that hung at her side. However... having Zalaras listening to her... there was the challenge right there.

"Since when were Sentret Kanto native?" Dixie had asked, listening to the cries of the Pokémon for a little longer.

"Guess you don't pay attention to the news all that much..." Jaxx scoffed, "there was a newscast about how some poachers had gotten their hands on Sentret and Furret and tried bringing them over to this region. Someone foiled their plans and the Pokémon went loose around this area." He looked to her for a moment and then shook his head slightly, "it happened about half a year ago, you lived around here and you didn't know that?"

"Well... I wasn't allowed to venture out past here till today..." Dixie replied, frowning to him.

"Whatever.... Anyways, it doesn't sound like it's just passing by to me," Jaxx commented, pulling Squirtle's PokéBall from the chain at his side and expanding it. He released the Tiny-Turtle Pokémon from its capsule and it stood quick at attention.

Dixie had nodded in agreement. Sentret that screeched out like that were usually warning the others that there was danger or something lurking about. It was a fairly deafening noise if you were in close proximity, but if you were farther away and heard it, a being such as Dixie would have found the cries to have been quite the adorable noise.

Zalaras, on the flip side of the coin, rushed up to Dixie's side for a moment, looking around for the disturbance, the flame on its tail burning a little more vigorously. It may have been quite the reluctant and stubborn Charmander, but it didn't mean that he was going to disregard everything including his own well being at the point and time. If he needed to defend himself from enemies, then he was going to do so. Perhaps not in full compliance with the human, but he would still do so nonetheless.

"It's starting to hurt my ears..." Dixie said after a while or listening to the Sentret's cries, raising her hands up and clasping her hands over her ears. Both she and Jaxx started looking around for the Sentret that was making all the ruckus. Zalaras was doing the same, however, he decided to run up and close to the grass, wondering if he were able to go and find it so that he could perhaps battle it.

With a swift dash, a Sentret with a brown and white checkered fedora ran in front of the humans and Charmander, standing guard in front of the burrowing hole of their colony. The fuzzy little fellow tossed his hat off and balled his white paws into tiny little fists, preparing himself for a fight.

Jaxx sighed, signaling for his Squirtle to move in for an attack. It was a low level, didn't know many attacks, it should be rather obvious what was going to happen.

Squirtle placed his foot firmly to the ground, digging into it slightly. He was concentrating... choosing a target... he would need to start off with one, but it seemed that the Sentret and likes had chosen the 'leader' to be the victim for this one.

A slight smirk crossed the water-type's mouth and then Squirtle ran forward, launching itself soon after at the furry Pokémon. Tackle, that'd show 'em!

As the tiny turtle launched itself at the Sentret, the rodent Pokémon scooched to the side in time, narrowly avoiding the attack. He countered with a Tail Whip straight to the turtle's face, hoping to ward him off.

Zalaras, on the other hand, had narrowed his eyes at the Sentret and then saw the Squirtle charging for it. Tch, that turtle was going in for the attack already? Nuh uh... the golden lizard wasn't going to have it. That turtle already had the advantage by being a water-type, but going in for the first attack? Not cool... not in the least. Furrowing his brow, Zalaras rushed in ahead as well, his claws drawn back and getting ready to use a basic Scratch attack.

"H-hey, wait, Zalaras! I didn't say to attack, yet...." Dixie called out to him, sounding almost helpless as to what to do. She couldn't be blamed. Dixie may have lived with a lot of Pokémon that her Aunt had owned, but that didn't mean that she had any experience in how to actually take command and tell her very own Pokémon what to be doing.

The Charmander had caught the Sentret by surprise because of both coloring and an assault, the fuzzy little fellow wound up taking the Scratch attack. He recoiled a bit from the attack, then attempted to counter with a Tackle, hoping to pound the daylights out of the Charmander.

Zalaras prided himself for a moment, being able to have his attack hit the Sentret, however, what caught him was the Spearow that had swooped down out of no where and started to take away his opponent before its Tackle were to hit. He heard his trainer gasp, and he was about to shrug it off, being the fact that he still didn't really care all that much for her. When he saw the Spearow begin to take fight with the rodent in his talons, that's when the lizard jumped up and bit onto the tail feathers of the fowl. Hopefully this would impede the bird greatly enough to stay grounded.

Jaxx had also reacted to the situation that had just now happened before his, Dixie's and their Pokémon's very eyes. Normally he would have shrugged it off. He would have said that that was how nature worked. It's how his brothers had taught him -- Spearow were hunters. Sentret and Rattata were prey... it was the circle of life.

"Leave it alone," he spoke through tightened lips, clenching his fists and furrowing his brow as he looked to the Spearow. What else would he do? What else _could_ he do? Even his Squirtle was a bit taken aback, stopping and taking a step back from the target, looking to the bird, slightly nervous. That was a pretty big bird to just suddenly appear out of nowhere... really... really big.

Dixie, on the other hand, looked to the Sentret and then looked back to Jaxx, not really sure on what to do. Hesitantly, she took a step forwards, hoping to get to the battling creatures and at least intervene if she needed to. Battling Pokémon was something that she was looking forward to to get into the Indigo League, yes, but there were things that just weren't going to fly... and apparently, that was the Spearow, seeing as Zalaras had bitten down on the tail feathers. Dixie winced slightly as she heard a growl escape form Zal's mouth and at the Spearow.

"H-hey, Jaxx?" the dark-haired girl turned her attention to her peer and gave a sheepish look, "perhaps if we get our Pokémon to actually work together, we can get the Sentret away from the Spearow...?" she didn't sound too sure, then again, why would she? Dixie didn't want to see the poor Sentret get carried off like that, it made her sick to her stomach even though she knew that what was going on was part of how nature worked. A majority of the bird Pokémon were hunters, and rodents and reptiles were their prey.

As it stood, the Spearow flailed his wings wildly as the fire-type had his maw clamped tightly around his tail feathers and the Sentret was wailing loudly once more. Jaxx's Squirtle more or less at a loss of what to do next, the high vibrations of the Sentret's call's sound waves vibrating through his head. How could that Charmander not mind all of that and still be so determined to hold on to that bird while all of that was happening?

Watching this scene for a few seconds longer, Jaxx turned his attention to Dixie and then nodded, "right..." he turned back to Squirtle and then motioned towards the Spearow, who was now flapping its wings and pecking angrily at the golden coloured Charmander. Its clutch on Sentret still held strong, though. It didn't seem all that willing to let up its meal. In fact... the Spearow seemed to have tightened his grip on the Sentret, causing it to shrill like a banshee.

"Hnn... Squirtle! Go in for a Tackle attack!" Jaxx commanded, not wanting to hear the pained shrieks that emitted from the Sentret's mouth any longer.

The little turtle nodded as he had heard the command through the cries of the rodent and charged forwards once again, throwing his body against the Spearow and knocking it off balance. This time... this time the Spearow's grip on the Sentret faltered and the brown creature fell to the ground, small puncture marks showing through its once smooth and undamaged fur.

Dixie's hand immediately traveled to her messenger bag and inside. Feeling around, she rummaged through various supplies, her hand brushing against the six Pokéballs that Professor Oak had given her and then to the Potion that she had nicked from the greenhouse the day before leaving her aunt's house to get started. Now that she had it firmly in her grasp, she darted out and scooped the Sentret up in her arms. She then returned to Jaxx's side, fumbling with the potion in her hands.

The Spearow didn't seem to approve of this. As he kicked up from the ground, the Spearow beat his wings wildly at both Zalaras and the Squirtle, shaking the lizard's grip on him and making him let go. Now airbourne, the Spearow looked down to the Squirtle and dove down, aiming a Peck attack straight for his forehead.

The Squirtle tried to back up, however, the Peck attack hit him square in the head, knocking him back onto his back, leaving him to squirm and try rolling back into a suitable position. Taking note of this, Zalaras growled and darted for the Spearow, not really caring if he was supposed to be taking orders from a human. He didn't care that she was his trainer. He ws his own being, his own thinker, and he would act upon that.

Drawing his claws back once more, Zalaras leaped into the air and then aimed a Scratch attack to the fowl. His claws struck across the bird, causing feathers to pull off and reveal three nice scratch marks from where the golden lizard had struck it.

"Dixie... you sure you should really be taking care of that thing now?" Jaxx asked as soon as he had momentarily averted his attention from the battle to the Sentret that she cradled in her arms. It looked just like a normal Sentret... however... he supposed that like people, Pokémon were all different, too. He had remembered seeing Sentret in his Dex, but as he looked at this one, he could only see two differences. The paws of the creature where milky white and the very tip of his tail was coated with black fur.

"Well, what do you want me to do?" Dixie asked, spraying the contents of the potion on the Sentret.

Shaking his head, Jaxx turned back to his Squirtle and saw that it had managed to get back up onto his own two feet once again. Giving a slight smirk of satisfaction, Jaxx called out to the turtle once again, "Squirtle, go ahead and aim another Tackle attack for it!"

Giving another nod, Squirtle clenched its little hands and charged for the Spearow as it landed to the ground. Fortunately enough, the Spearow was squaring off with Zalaras, eying the Charmander with much disdain. Before the Spearow started after the lizard, Squirtle had tackled it from behind, causing it to tumble forwards and remain quite motionless for some time.

Jaxx watched the Spearow for what seemed like minutes before detatching a PokéBall capsule from his chain and throwing it out to the Spearow. The bird became engulfed in the red light of the PokéBall and then encased. Jaxx's eyes stayed glued to the red light on the PokéBall as it shook and then nervousness started to rise within his being. Shake after shake, the male preteen could feel the palms of his hands start to break out in sweat.

Then... it stopped, the light fading and the Spearow staying caught within.

Relaxing his stance, a smile was seen upon the preteen's face and he went over to the calmed PokéBall. Jaxx bent down and picked up the ball. He averted his gaze to Dixie for a moment and then saw her making her way to the checkered fedora with the Sentret still cradled in her arms.

The rodent didn't seem to look too pleased, however, it had calmed down a lot as the potion that Dixie had used started to take effect and numb his pain. Jaxx noted the slight squirming that Sentret exerted when Dixie had gone over and picked up his hat.

Taking both the Pokémon and the hat to Jaxx, she handed them over to him. Jaxx took them rather reluctantly and then arched a brow to the girl as he saw her quickly go over to the Charmander's side and reach out for him.

"Hey Zal, you did a really good job out there, I hope you know that!" Dixie grinned, crouching down to be more level with the lizard. Charmander had looked up to her, a little confused. He didn't listen to her... and yet she was praising him.

Jaxx watched both Dixie and the Charmander for a moment before looking down to his Squirtle and giving the Pokémon a small smile. The Squirtle grinned back up to his trainer and then went over to his side, trying to look up at the injured Sentret that was now cradled up in his arms. The water-type's eyes were filled with curiosity and Jaxx gave a small laugh as he crouched down, showing the Squirtle the Sentret.

Sentret looked to Squirtle and then sharply turned away from it, causing it to let out a small whine of pain from where the Spearow had gotten it.

Dixie had made her way back, Zalaras trailing reluctantly behind her.

"How's he looking?" Dixie asked, turning her gaze to the Sentret.

"Better, thanks to the potion you used on it."

"Hehe, that's good," Dixie received the Sentret, as well as the fedora, back from Jaxx and then looked down to it. Giggling softly she cooed to it, "everything's gonna be alright, little guy. That mean Spearow's not around any more."

"... Do you always do that?" Jaxx asked, giving the girl a skeptical look as he saw her talking to the Sentret.

"Do what?"

"Always act friendly towards Pokémon even though there's a risk of getting attacked..." Jaxx had then motioned to her hand where Zalaras had bitten her. He shrugged and then looked away, "just doesn't seem to be the type of behaviour that should be exerted if you're really intending to go to the Pokémon League. If you were going to be a Breeder, maybe...."

"Well... all trainers have their own way of training Pokémon and stuff... this is just my way..." Dixie replied, frowning a bit. Kneeling down, Dixie put the Sentret down on its own two feet, giving it a reassuring smile as she saw the quizzical look that was shown in its expression.

She put the fedora back onto the Sentret's head and then stood up, motioning for Zalaras to come over to her side. Of course, the Charmander reluctantly went over, giving a look to the Sentret. He was still prepared to battle, though it looked as if the tussle with the Spearow had left it rather shaken.

"Anyways! Let's get going to Viridian!" Dixie said enthusiastically, looking up at Jaxx with a grin. In return, the boy arced a brow at her and then withdrew the Squirtle to its capsule. Putting it back onto the chain that held his three other Pokémon as well as the unoccupied capsules, Jaxx started forwards some.

"You're not going to catch the Sentret?" Jaxx asked.

"Nope!"

"Any reason why, even though it was right there and weak?"

Dixie gave a shrug of the shoulders and then looked down to Zalaras, "I wanna catch the Pokémon that will be part of my team by befriending them."

"... Good luck with that..." there was obvious sarcasm in Jaxx's tone, though Dixie merely brushed it off and started forwards, leaving the confused Sentret behind.

"Girls are so confusing...."

"I can say the same thing about boys."

Rolling his eyes, Jaxx gave an inaudible scoff and continued forwards, deciding against arguing with the girl.

"Anyways, do you know how long it'll take to be getting to Viridian?" Dixie asked, stretching her arms up for a moment.

"Viridian isn't that far away from here.... We'll probably make it there by the time late afternoon rolls by...."

-------------------------------------------

Stalking the forest in the early morning ambiance, a girl had a large bag slung over one shoulder and she looked through the trees and grass for any Pokémon that she could find. She had gotten up early in hopes of finding Pokémon that were only active in the mornings... however, she probably didn't need to worry about that aspect being in Viridian Forest.

"All right, it's Jakkaru the great Pokémon collector on her way," the girl said to herself with a grin, venturing further into the forest and pushing past bushes. The leaves and branches caught at her clothes, leaving behind small damaged areas. It was stuff that Jakkaru didn't mind, she was far too used to it.

However, as the brunette walked through the grass, the stillness in the air seemed to unnerve her. It was far too quiet this morning for nothing to be up and about. Usually Caterpie and Weedle were up with their morning feeding upon the lush grass or leaves.

Inhaling and taking in the the area around her, Jakkaru came up to a tree, set her bag down and started to climb the branches. As she did, she could hear the rustle of young Pidgey as they shifted nervously in their nests. Smiling to herself, Jakkaru left them alone and continued up a little more, pausing as she came across a Metapod.

Her smile widening at the sight of the Pokémon, the brunette gingerly took the Pokémon from it's spot and then made her way back down from the tree, making sure not to cause any damages to it.

"Well... the first catch of the day! Wasn't that easy?" Jakkaru asked herself, looking down to the Metapod and beaming. The cocooned Pokémon stared back at her idly and then closed it's eyes back up. Jakkaru seemed to grin even more at this -- it seemed that the Metapod was rather lax about what was going on and didn't mind one bit.

Picking up her bag and slinging it over her shoulder, Jakkaru made her trek to leaving the forest and back to Viridian. Though she would have stayed longer within the forest to get a better look around, she decided that the Metapod would do for now.

"It's only morning after all..." Jakkaru reminded herself, cradling the Metapod. When she looked down to it, she couldn't help but notice how big they actually were. She thought back for a moment and recalled other Metapod that she had seen. They were either at a distance, or she had been chased off by angered Beedrill before she had gotten the chance to actually make a grab for it.

Taking a deep breath once more, Jakkaru started to hear chirping of Pidgeotto. They weren't those normal, early bird callings either. No, these ones sounded angered and quickly, Jakkaru looked up, trying to pick her way through the foliage for the disturbance. The cries were near, and then a shrill caw of a Fearow rang through the air.

_'Oh no...'_ Jakkaru quickly thought, clutching the Metapod a little tighter and then quickly looking for an exit. After running around for a good couple of minutes, Jakkaru found a clearing and then cast her eyes back up, looking for the two bird Pokémon that she had heard before.

Their movements seemed more stiff than usual as Jakkaru observed them. Less graceful than what she had seen before. She pondered to herself and came to theorize that perhaps a Beedrill or something of the like had poisoned them.

_'But the both of them?'_ Jakkaru found herself to be thinking, _'if they really had been poisoned by a Beedrill, there's no doubt that they would be chased off by a swarm of angered Beedrill.'_ She clenched her jaw for a moment and then knelt onto the ground, putting down the Metapod and then opening her bag, pulling out her PokéDex, hoping that it may have the answers to both the Pidgeotto and Fearow's movements.

Opening the Dex with the press of a button, the pocket encyclopedia turned on and picked up on the two birds that it was aimed at and came back with a response, "there is no information on the condition."

"Well that's just darn useful..." Jakkaru sarcastically muttered under her breath, closing the Dex and putting it back into her bag. As she leaned over to pick the Metapod back up, she saw the Pidgeotto take a plummet and then land on the ground about five feet in front of her. The Fearow had followed shortly after, it's wings spread wide and it's chest heaving, obviously growing worn from the battle it was having with the other fowl Pokémon.

Wincing a bit as the two birds had gotten closer to where she was, Jakkaru saw the Pidgeotto push itself back up and stagger forwards some. The smaller of the two birds also spread out its wings and gave a weak, yet angered cry towards the Fearow.

Backing up from the two birds a bit, Jakkaru shifted her bag slightly and wondered if she could catch these two birds as well as opposed to the Metapod that she had in her clutches. As she saw it, these two Pokémon were tired... and after their little bout, there's no doubt in her mind that they would be easy to capture within PokéBalls.

As she had given thought to that very thing, both Fearow and the Pidgeotto collapsed to the ground, both panting rather heavily. Jakkaru quickly put the Metapod down and then ran over to the two of them, worried for their well being. She debated capturing them now as opposed to when they were in at least a little better condition.

"They need to be taken to a Pokémon Center..." Jakkaru muttered angrily to herself, pushing away her collector's train of thought. Looking to them again, she clenched her jaw... there was no way that she could just simply go and carry these two Pokémon to a Center. They were both far too big, and to add that onto both her bag and the Metapod... there was no way that she could do that the entire time she made her way back to Viridian.

She gave a sigh and then went back over to her bag, quickly opening it once again and pulling out two PokéBalls. Expanding them, she tossed them towards the two birds, watching the capsules shake for a good half minute or so then come to a calm. Jakkaru sighed once again as she tried to push away the worry that was starting to bubble up.

"Okay... have these two... time to hurry back to Viridian and get them to Nurse Joy..." Jakkaru said, giving herself the verbal reminder so that it would better stay in her mind to do so. Picking up her bag once more and then scooping the Metapod back up after putting the now occupied capsules in her bag, Jakkaru hurried to where it was she had entered the forest from.

It took a good ten or fifteen minutes, but Jak had made her way out of the forest and back along the route to Viridian. She had to stop to mentally curse herself fot arising very early this morning to be getting her Pokémon findings done, as it would have easily been about a thirty minute walk to Viridian.

Taking a quick look at her watch, Jakkaru grimaced.

9:48 AM.

"Darn it... not even a full three hours out here yet..." Jakkaru sighed, looking back up and starting her way down the trail. A little irritated, she grumbled to herself about not having a bike so that walking to and from places wouldn't be so difficult.

By the time that Jakkaru had entered Viridian City, her watch read 10:34 AM. Frowning at that, Jakkaru cursed to herself again and then started to hurry to where she knew the Pokémon center to be. The Metapod gave a slight shake, obviously a tad disgruntled with the fact that Jakkaru had taken to running again.

As she had made it in front of the Pokémon Center, Jakkaru took a moment to catch her breath and then entered through the automatic doors. Nurse Joy was behind her desk, filing papers. Her gaze immediately turned to Jakkaru as the girl made her way to the front desk and she gave the girl a look.

"Back again, Jakkaru?" Nurse Joy said, putting her hands on her hips. "Isn't there a day that can go by where you don't show up here at unusual times with an injured Pokémon of some sort?"

"Sorry... but this time it wasn't my doing, I swear!" Jakkaru said, placing the Metapod on the desk and then digging into her bag. She pulled out the two PokéBalls and then handed them over to Nurse Joy. Jakkaru was a little hesitant to do so. The expression that was on Nurse Joy's face wasn't the usual happy looking one that she had sported when there were other people coming in to have their Pokémon treated and looked after.

"One's a Pidgeotto and the other is a Fearow," Jakkaru explained, "I saw them fighting out in Viridian Forest, but there's also something about them that I couldn't quite figure out. I tired using one of the features on my Pokédex to find out what was up with them, but it didn't have any information."

"What do you think?" Nurse Joy asked, putting the capsules on a tray and preparing to take them to the back.

"At first, I thought it may have been poisoning... but when Dexter said it wasn't that, I couldn't think of anything else since they didn't show any symptoms of slight paralysis..."

"I'll see what I can come up with, then..." Nurse Joy replied, taking a few steps forwards and then pausing, "but you know... I've also noticed that a lot of Pokémon are starting to act differently these days...."

"Really?" Jakkaru's interest was suddenly piqued.

Nodding again, Nurse Joy continued, "but I'm not quite sure what it is that could be causing it."

"... That's so weird..." Jakkaru murmured, looking down to the Metapod and giving this matter more thought than she previously had. When she had seen both of the fowl Pokémon, she had only figured it to be a slight condition that had been bestowed upon them somehow. However... thinking that they both had fought till they passed out instead of having one exerting their dominance.... That was strange indeed.

"... karu... Jakkaru?"

"Huh?" Jakkaru snapped out of her thoughts and looked to Nurse Joy.

"Why don't you wait in the lobby for your Pokémon to be healed up," Joy gave that kind smile of hers and then started for the back of the center to tend to the Pokémon. Looking after her, Jakkaru pondered more about what the nurse had said then took the Metapod and made her way to the lobby.

This was all so very interesting... "and maybe Katy would want to know about the behaviours, too... I wonder if she's noticed them, actually." With that, Jakkaru plopped down on one of the couches in the lobby and then put the Metapod in the empty space next to her. It eyed her idly and then closed his eyes, not really giving a care to his surroundings and falling into a slumber.

Digging into her bag once more, Jakkaru pulled out a journal and then flipped it to an empty space and then pulled a pen from one of her pockets. She had made sure to take notes on the Fearow and the Pidgeotto and how it was that their movements looked when she had watched them.

_While in Viridian Forest, I had recently picked up a Metapod and then was getting ready to make my way back home. I heard the cry of a Pidgeotto and then tried looking for it. Having no luck, I rushed to a clearing and saw that it had been fighting with a Fearow._

_I have seen Pidgeotto and Pidgeot both fighting Fearow to keep their territorial boundaries. Their movements, even though they are attacking, are so graceful and fluid. When I watched the ones that I had captured today, I noticed that their movements were stiff and when they dove at each other, it was sharp. The Pidgeotto had fallen from it's flight after a while, the Fearow landing on the ground before it._

_The Pidgeotto seemed to show a sense of determination. It had pushed itself back up and gave an angry cry to the Fearow. However... it seemed that's all both of them could handle before they had both passed out from exhaustion._

Her hand came to a halt as soon as she had written 'they had both passed out from exhaustion'.... Pursing her lips together, Jakkaru tapped her pen against the journal and then gave a small scowl.

"That's all I can really write?" she wondered aloud, her voice in a relatively irritable tone, "this is nothing that would even interest her...." Jakkaru leaned back on the couch, dangling her head over the back of the couch a bit and staring up to the ceiling, hoping for some inkling to what it was that she saw and that Nurse Joy had mentioned.

Sitting back up, Jakkaru closed her journal with a rather annoyed huff and then stuck it back into her bag. After she had done so, she looked to the Metapod and then tilted her head at it.

"You don't seem to be acting all that differently..." Jakkaru observed, reaching a hand out and patting the Metapod on the top of its head. She paused after a couple of pats and then rose her other arm to check the time again.

11:16 AM

"... This day seems to be going awfully fast already..." Jakkaru commented, giving a slight sigh and continuing patting the Metapod.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

"Meta, Meta, Metapod~ Meta, Meta, Metapod~" came along a singsong voice. Jakkaru had woken up from being on the couch in the lobby to find that the Metapod that she had found earlier that day was missing. Sitting up quickly and frantically looking around for the green chrysalis encased bug, Jakkaru started to panic. She hadn't _really_ caught the Metapod, which meant that somebody else could have waltzed over and claimed it for their own.

Quickly, Jakkaru raised her arm to check the time.

1:49 PM.

"Wow... I was napping for that long?" Jakkaru asked, not even realizing that she even became drowsy enough to have fallen asleep in the first place.

"... I really don't think you should be touching that Metapod, Dixie... really..." came another voice, this one male.

"But... but look at it, Jaxx!" she grinned, holding it up to the dark-haired preteen. "Isn't it just so cute?"

"... But it's not yours..." Jaxx simply replied.

"I-I know... b-but, it's not like I'm stealing it...."

Jakkaru turned her attention to to her left where she saw two kids that looked to be younger than her standing. The girl, Dixie, with the Metapod in her arms and with a Charmander at her side. As Jakkaru stared more intently at the Charmander, her attention drifted from the fact that this unknown girl was holding the Metapod that she had found and was now primarily focused on the golden lizard.

"Whoa! How cool!" Jakkaru exclaimed, scrambling over to them and coming to eye-level with the Charmander. "I've never seen a Charmander like this! Where'd you find him? Oh man, Katy would kill to see this!"

"Huh...?" Dixie looked down to the girl that seemed to be too close for comfort to Zalaras. She blinked a couple of times and lowered the Metapod from showing Jaxx and then said, "y-y'know... I really would be all that close to Zal if I were yo--"

The Charmander had reacted before Dixie could get her warning out, snapping at Jakkaru's face.

Narrowly avoiding the golden lizard's fierce snap, Jakkaru had tumbled backwards a bit and gave a rather surprised look. It took a moment for her to gather up her thoughts and composure. After that moment, she sat back up and brushed the brown locks of hair from her vision, then smiled up to the duo that were now here at the Pokémon Center with her.

Jakkaru stood up and offered a hand to the both of them... or rather, either of them that would reach out and shake her hand. Dixie had glanced down and tried shifting the Metapod in her hold so that she could carry out the handshake gesture. Jaxx, on the other hand, looked away and shoved his hands into his pockets.

"My name's Jakkaru, and I must say, your Charmander is really awesome! Ember is nothing like it, and it's just... so stunning to look at it!" Jakkaru introduced herself and then looked over to Zalaras once more. The Charmander stuck its tongue out at her and then folded his arms over his chest, growling somewhat.

"I'm Dixie!" the dark-haired girl replied, finally setting the Metapod back down onto the couch and reaching over to shake Jakkaru's hand. The boy had rolled his eyes and then gave an inaudible, unimpressed scoff, keeping to himself rather than socializing with the girl that they had kind of taken the Metapod away from.

Receiving a nudge in the side after a moment, Jaxx gave a scowl in Dixie's direction.

"Introduce yourself, at least...."

Jaxx turned his gaze to Jakkaru and then resisted giving another roll of the eyes. He kept his hands securely in his pockets and then looked away once again, introducing himself, "name's Jaxx...."

"It's so great to be meeting the both of you, then!" Jakkaru said, crouching back down to look at Zalaras. She slightly ignored his discomfort with how close she was to him, though she only stayed around to be looking at him for a good few seconds to observe him. Jakkaru grinned to herself and then stood up straight once again, placing her hands on her hips and then turning her gaze to the two other kids once again.

"Say, which one of you has this Charmander as your partner?"

Dixie jumped up at that, "right here! Zalaras is my companion!" she looked down to Zalaras and beamed, "ain't ya, Zal?"

"Charmander char char..." Zalaras replied, turning away sharply and giving a slightly disgruntled look. He gave off this air that said 'I'm too good for a human trainer'. Dixie just gave a slight smile towards Zalaras and then looked back to Jakkaru.

"He doesn't seem to be very social, does he?" Jakkaru asked, placing her hands on her hips and giving the lizard a look. Grinning as an idea came to mind, the brunette made her way back over to her bag and then dug through the PokéBalls that were within and then pulled out one of her own that sported the same fire-emblem on it.

"Whoa, did you start off with a Charmander, too?" Dixie asked, beaming as she saw the PokéBall that was in Jakkaru's grasp.

"Yup! I named him Ember..." Jakkaru replied, giggling somewhat. "Here, I'll introduce you all."

She released the Pokémon that resided inside the capsule and before them, a Charmeleon was standing. It gave a smile to the trio of trainers and then looked over to the Charmander. Noticing it and its different colouration, the Charmeleon immediately went over and started to sniff at Zalaras. It was interested in the little creature, and it was evident by the confused look that it was giving the smaller Pokémon as he continued to sniff and look Zal up and down.

The Charmander didn't seem to care for the attention that it was suddenly getting. His jaw tightened and his little hands balled up into fists. Zalaras' dark eyes also narrowed at the Charmeleon and he waved an arm out, trying to shove away the nosy Charmeleon.

Jaxx let out a sigh and detached Squirtle's PokéBall from his chain once more. With a push of a button, he made the previously ping-pong sized ball expand into the size of a baseball. Another push of the button and Jaxx had released the tiny turtle Pokémon that was within the water-drop marked capsule.

"Squirtle squirt!" the light blue skinned reptile chirped, smiling a bit and wagging his curled tail. He was happy to be out again, and this time with other Pokémon who's intentions weren't to battle, but to get to know each other better. Waddling his way over, Squirtle waved slightly to both Ember and Zalaras. The motions from the Squirtle caught Ember's attention and the Charmeleon had backed away from Zalaras and had made his way over to the Squirtle, now sniffing at him instead.

Giving a slight laugh, Jakkaru gave an apology, "sorry he's like that.... He's got a rather silly and curious nature, you see?" She knelt down next to him and started to pat his head. Ember the Charmeleon stepped back from the Squirtle and leaned his head more into his trainer's patting, enjoying the attention that he was now receiving.

At the sight, Dixie couldn't help but smile. She turned her green eyes down to Zalaras and then crouched down next to him.

"See Zal? Like Jakk and Ember, we can be good friends like that, too!" she reached out and stroked the Charmander's head. Zalaras recoiled a bit, though later just stiffly stood and accepted the attention that Dixie was giving him. He still didn't look all that pleased about it, however, it seemed that his expression softened some as Dixie pulled her hand away after some time.

"Oh... I totally forgot..." Jakkaru started, standing back up and looking to both Dixie and Jaxx. "You two are new around here, aren't ya? And judging by your Pokémon, you guys just came from Pallet Town, huh?"

"That's right..." Jaxx replied.

"Mhm!" Dixie chimed in, "do you live around here, or something, Jakkaru?"

"Yup! Viridian is my home," she took the moment to explain. She looked up to the ceiling of the center again, thinking for a moment before looking back to the duo and opening her mouth once again, "I'm also guessing that you're probably traveling around for gym challenges, or something. Am I right?"

"I'm not..." Jaxx looked down to his Squirtle companion and saw that both he and Ember seemed to be poking fun at Zalaras. He gave a very subtle smile towards the three Pokémon as they seemed to be having a little bit of fun. If Jaxx couldn't see the enjoyment of hanging out with Dixie, then he'd at least allow for his own Pokémon to see it... and that seemed to be the socialization that they got to experience by being with another.

Shaking his head and averting his attention from the scene, Jaxx turned his gaze back towards Jakkaru. The brown haired girl seemed to have had her own attention stuck on Dixie... who had apparently said something while Jaxx was busy watching the Pokémon that were there.

"I'm afraid you're not going to have much luck with the gym leader here..." Jakkaru was saying.

"Huh? Why not?" Dixie asked, giving a rather disappointed expression.

"Well, the gym's gone through three gym leaders so far that I know. Giovanni, before it was found out that he was part of Team Rocket and then... just disappeared. Then some guy by the name of Gary Oak reigned over the gym for a while before deciding to follow in hi--"

"Whoa, wait, _the_ Gary Oak?" Dixie interrupted, now shocked by what it was that she was hearing. "I've totally wanted to get a chance to be able to meet him. I've heard a lot about his research studies, and they're just so amazing! Oh man, I forgot to ask Professor Oak about him at the lab, too. I feel so stupid."

Jaxx had a puzzled look on his face. "I-I know who Gary Oak is... I just never thought that he revoked his trainer status to become a researcher."

The brunette gave a slight laugh at the two. "Yeah, you're both thinking of the right Gary Oak. I hear he's conducting studies in the Sinnoh region and had been for quite some time." Jakkaru looked to the Ember and the started up again, "however... moreover on the gym.... The last person that was in charge of it was Agatha."

"Agatha... why does her name ring a bell?" Dixie wondered out loud, going back in her mind to see if she could remember anything.

"Well... she used to be in the Elite Four. She retired not too long ago... within the last year, at least."

"Oh... so then... who's in charge of the Viridian City Gym, then?"

"Hm... I think recently, it was a person that went by the name of Marina."

"M-Marina Kris, you mean?" Dixie questioned, giving a slightly baffled look. "But I thought she was a coordinator."

"She splits time between both being a trainer and being a coordinator," Jakkaru explained, "however, these days with her being the leader of the gym, she's got less time to be participating in contests and stuff of the like."

"Wow..." Dixie had turned awestruck. Just thinking that there was a well known trainer and coordinator _there_ in Viridian City. Though, there was another thing that had crossed the dark-haired girl's mind.

"But... isn't Marina Kris also from Johto?"

"Mhm... she came over here once she heard that Viridian City was in need of a new gym leader, and showing her status. She instantly secured her spot as the new leader." Jakkaru explained, looking out the large windows of the center and eying the gym that was only a good few blocks away.

"I wouldn't go off and battle her right away, though..." Jakkaru continued, "if I were you... I'd head to Pewter City first and battle Forrest."

"Oh... h-how long would it take to get there?" Dixie sounded uncertain. To her, she was in a city that had a gym... and to just simply skip it and head to the next one.... Dixie had high hopes and dreams when she had left Saffron City to be going to live with her Aunt Sicily. Those dreams consisted of going out and battling other trainers to eventually go and earn recognition as a great trainer.

"Hm... well... if you rested here for a while and then left early tomorrow morning..." Jakkaru started, pondering about the question. Her gaze turned downwards as she continued thinking about it. "Well... for me, when I left, it took me about two and a half days to make it there."

"Really... that long, huh?" Dixie asked, a little disappointed. She shifted her attention to Jaxx for a moment and then looked back to Jakkaru. "So... if you're suggesting what gym to be going to first, does that mean that you do the gym challenges as well?"

Jakkaru gave a slight laugh and then nodded, "I did, yeah... but I've only got so many badges.... I mean, I kept returning here because I easily get homesick... so I don't travel all that much." With that, she returned to her bag and pulled out a lavender case. Opening it, she revealed the badges that were neatly nestled within. At the sight of the three polished badges, Dixie's eyes began to sparkle and she looked to Jakkaru with admiration.

"Wow! It's the Boulder, Cascade and Thunder badges!" Dixie exclaimed, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Tell me, tell me! How strong were the leaders? Were they just totally awesome? I bet they were! Oh man, I so can't wait to battle them now!"

"Dixie... shouldn't bombard the acquaintance with all of that at once..." Jaxx finally spoke up after being silent for more than half of the time. However, his attention was split between the two girls and the Pokémon that were their apparent starters. Even though it looked as if nothing was going to be breaking out anytime soon, Zalaras still carried that annoyed look upon his reptilian face.

"Oh, it's fine, really... uh... Jaxx, wasn't it?" Jakkaru replied, rubbing at the back of her neck with her free hand as she had forgotten the boy's name in the short amount of time that they had known each other.

Jaxx had grimaced as he had heard the uncertainty in her voice. He shoved a hand into his pocket and then turned his head to the side. "Yeah... that's it. Jaxx." He said it to allow her to know that she had been right... but he couldn't help but be bothered just a tiny bit by the girl's forgetfulness.

"Well... Forrest is no big deal if you have grass or water-type Pokémon," Jakkaru began to explain, turning her attention back to Dixie. "Also, Misty of Cerulean City won't do good against electrical or grass-type Pokémon either. Lieutenant Surge, on the other hand..." Jakkaru winced as she had mentioned his name and then turned her gaze back down to Ember and the other two basic evolutionary Pokémon that he was with. She had shut her lavender badge case and then clenched her free hand.

"His Raichu is awesomely strong... it was really hard for me to come up with a tactic to beat him." Jakkaru seemed to have a pained expression cross her face as she had mentioned that.

"I had eventually switched out one of my own team to make room for a Geodude that I had caught prior to that." A smile crossed Jakkaru's face to hide her expression, "luckily he pulled through... and after all of that, he evolved into a Graveler!"

"So cool..." Dixie said, marveling at the older girl. Jaxx gave another roll of his eyes and took a few steps towards the Pokémon, taking the Metapod with him. He wanted to see the reactions that they other Pokémon would give being introduced to the bug-type Pokémon. That... and he didn't really think it was all that fair that the Metapod had been being ignored for most of the time now that Dixie had gotten her attention captivated by the brunette that was there, too.

As the two girls seemed to chit and chatter away at gyms and challenges, Jaxx knelt by the Pokémon that were there. He liked spending time with them more than he actually did the girl that had asked to travel together, that was for sure. There was just something about the Pokémon that suited him more than actually being with a person. Perhaps it was the fact that they more often times than not didn't judge people. As soon as one was to befriend a Pokémon, they offered unconditional love and friendship... no matter who it was.

A grin found its way upon Jaxx's lips as he saw his Squirtle start to edge away from him and then near the Metapod out of curiosity. Zalaras shrugged off the bug and Jaxx scooted over next to the lizard. He looked down to the golden lizard and then held out his hand to it in a friendly manner.

"Heh... you seem to be quite the troublemaker, huh, Zalaras...?" Jaxx questioned, giving the Charmander a kind look. He shifted his gaze to the Charmeleon for a moment. Taking note of the slight, uncertain wag of the tail that the Charmeleon gave, Jaxx held out his other hand towards Ember. The Charmeleon smiled again and then neared the dark-haired boy's hand, sniffing at it before resting his snout in the palm of his hand.

Zalaras looked down as Jaxx started to pat the Charmeleon rather affectionately and then turned away. He had already started warming up to Dixie just a little bit, but this Jaxx kid, on the other hand. Even though his trainer had taken a liking to him, it didn't mean that the gold lizard had. Zalaras considered himself a loner... or perhaps he had let all the people that made him feel mighty about himself get to his head.

A sweet and tangy scent met Zalaras' nostrils and the golden Charmander turned to look to Jaxx once again. The boy's hand was outstretched towards him and was holding a cubic shaped... piece of something. Zalaras sniffed at it as the scent had piqued his interest. Not to mention, the Charmander was growing quite hungry as well. He didn't even notice that he was nearing Jaxx because he was slowly pulling his hand back. It was that block that Jaxx held that Zalaras wanted.

Giving a small laugh, Jaxx moved his other hand from Ember and then gingerly placed it on top of Zalaras' own. He could feel the reptile flinch beneath his touch, though the golden lizard continued to sniff at the mysterious block that the dark-haired male held within his grasp.

"Char... mander?" Zalaras tilted his head slightly and then opened his mouth, moving forwards and gently taking the block from Jaxx. At that, the smile on Jaxx's face widened and then he watched as the Charmander proceeded to eating the block.

A look of surprise mixed with joy crossed Zalaras' face for a split second.

"Like that? It's called a PokéBlock..." Jaxx explained, taking a small PEZ dispenser looking container from his pocket and giving it another shake. A blue one fell into the palm of Jaxx's hand and he held it up. "Heh... the one that you had was a sweet and sour one that my eldest brother made from Pecha and Aspear berries. This one here is a dry flavoured one made from Rawst berries... I don't think you'll like it if sweet and sour are to your liking."

"Hey Jaxx, what'cha doin'?" Dixie's voice rang out. It had turned apparent that her discussion with Jakkaru about gym matches and stuff of the like had ended. She had made her way over and crouched next to both Jaxx and Zalaras. At the sight of him and Jaxx getting along, Dixie smiled, hoping that her own friendship with Zal would soon blossom into something more than what it currently was.

"Looks like he's introducing your Charmander to PokéBlocks." Jakkaru quipped, crouching down to her Ember as she did. The Charmeleon had immediately gone over and started to nuzzle at the girl. Dixie watched the two, a sense of jealously hitting her as she saw how affectionate Jakkaru's Charmeleon was towards her.

A silent sigh escaped the younger girl's lips. _'Why can't Zalaras and I be like that? I mean... even Jaxx and his Squirtle get along....' _As if on cue, Squirtle had edged away from the Metapod and gone over to Jaxx. It stood on its tip toes and reached up for his hand, wanting to know what it was that his trainer was holding. Jaxx obliged to the Squirtle's curiosity, showing him the dry flavoured PokéBlock and laughing as Squirtle had taken the treat into his mouth and immediately sported a disgusted look after eating it.

Zalaras had glanced to the other Pokémon getting along with their trainers and then looked to Dixie as well. He wagged his tail to brush off her longing gaze. Zalaras wasn't going to succumb to the girl... not yet... and most likely, not ever.

"Hey... you guys need a place to stay? I mean, you get started to Pewter now, you'll both probably end up staying the night in Viridian Forest. Probably don't want that, do you?" Jakkaru asked the both of them. It had snapped Dixie and Jaxx's attentions from their Pokémon to looking to the girl that they had become acquainted with.

"That's really kind, but I don't think I could do that. I-I wouldn't want to be a burden to someone that we just met..." Dixie said before Jaxx could open his mouth to speak.

He shot her a look. So she didn't mind asking him along on a journey, and yet she was afraid of being a burden to someone who had _offered_ them a place to stay just for the time being. It was a little irritating to have to think about that... just a bit. However, she had asked him if he was willing to travel with her. He obliged. Giving that thought, Jaxx's irritation quickly boiled away and he gave a slight sigh.

"It's really quite fine, and my mom would love it if I brought friends over just to stay for a bit!" Jakkaru pressed, hugging Ember to her. There was a wide smile plastered upon her face as she continued to insist that the two stay over at her house for the time being.

"W-well... I guess it would--" Dixie had started before getting cut off.

"Jakkaru, I've gotten your Fearow and your Pidgeotto all healed and fixed up. They'll need to stay overnight to recover fully, but they're doing just fine." Nurse Joy had flashed that signature smile of hers and then turned her attention towards both Jaxx and Dixie.

"As for you, young man..." Joy started, focusing on Jaxx. "Your Spearow is just fine. A few damages here and there, but nothing severe. I'm guessing that it was your first catch as a trainer?" As Nurse Joy asked that question, she had taken the PokéBall that she had in her grasp and had handed it over to the dark-haired preteen.

Jaxx nodded in response, hesitantly reaching over and taking the capsule back from the red-haired nurse. He held the ping-pong sized ball in his hand for a moment, smiled back at Joy for a brief second and then attached the capsule back onto the chain that dangled at his side.

"Thank you, Nurse Joy..." Jaxx kindly said, averting his attention back to the red-haired nurse for a moment once again. After she had nodded and then turned down the hall back to where a Chansey was waiting for her, both Jaxx and Dixie had turned their attentions onto Jakkaru. Dixie had taken a moment to fiddle with the green and purple striped gloves that she sported before she spoke up.

"Anyways... I guess... if it's fine with you... I suppose we could stay." Dixie looked over to Jaxx for even just the tiniest bit of support. "I mean, it's only one night, right?"

"Right! And then you two can be off to Pewter City first thing in the morning!" Jakkaru added, grinning from ear to ear. She was more excited of the prospect of having people who she already seemed to have considered friends staying over at her house -- and especially with a differently coloured Charmander with them!

"It sounds good to me." Jaxx gave a slight shrug as his Squirtle went over to his side and tugged at his pant leg. Looking down to the small turtle, Jaxx knelt down next to it and then placed an affectionate hand on top of its head. The Squirtle seemed to smile as he did, leaning more against his trainer's touch.

"All right then! To my house we'll go!" Jakkaru cheerily said. Ember seemed to be ecstatic about the two humans and the other Pokémon that were with them staying for the time being as well. His tail wagged happily and he made his way back over to Zalaras again, offering a clawed hand in friendship.

Snorting, Zalaras turned away from the Charmeleon and gave a rather disgruntled sigh. In response, Ember had gone over and given the Charmander an affectionate nuzzle. As he did, the golden Charmander growled and swiped at the larger, red lizard. Zalaras stomped his feet a bit and then hurried to Dixie's feet, just hoping that the more experienced, though annoying, Charmeleon would just leave him alone. He quickly clung to Dixie's multicoloured pants and then scowled at Ember, sticking out his tongue for good measure.

Dixie had looked down and saw that Zalaras seemed to be holding onto her leg while scowling towards Ember. She gave a slight laugh and then leaned over, gently patting Zalaras on the head. The golden lizard only growled as she did, his attention more focused on Ember than anything else at the moment.

"Hey Zal... guess what, we're leaving in a bit to Jakkaru's..." Dixie said, giving the creature a reassuring look. The golden lizard had turned his attention towards his trainer for a split second before letting go of her pant leg and then giving another snort. He didn't push away Dixie's hand, though -- and that, right there, seemed to be an improvement for the starter.

"So... ready?" Jakkaru asked, making her way back to her bag and getting it zipped up. She made her way back, looking rather encumbered with that huge bag dangling off her shoulder as she also leaned over to pick up the Metapod that was there. Ember reached up as if he also wanted to be picked up. Looking down to him, Jakkaru did her best to lean his way and then patted him on the head. She shook her own head at him and then gave a slight laugh before turning her attention back to both Jaxx and Dixie -- awaiting their answer.

"I'm ready as can be!" Dixie chirped.

"... Guess I am, too..." Jaxx said after a moment. He had taken Squirtle's capsule and had withdrawn it. He turned his gaze back to both Jakkaru and Dixie for a moment before reattaching the capsule to his chain and then making his way to the front of the building. He shoved his hands into his pockets in the process, not really waiting up for the two females to be catching up with him.

"Doesn't talk all that much, does he?" Jakkaru questioned, not really addressing anyone in particular and returning Ember to his own capsule. Shifting the bag upon her shoulder for a moment, Jakkaru went to get the Metapod and then started after him, motioning for Dixie to follow her.

Watching the brunette, Dixie looked down to Zalaras and smiled again. "Looks like it's time for us to be going." She grinned, "c'mon! I bet being with her is going to be good for the both of us!"

Zalaras gave a roll of the eyes and then started following after his trainer after she started to follow Jakkaru and Jaxx. He took a moment to ponder why it was that he was still following after Dixie, though he simply shrugged off the thought and continued trailing behind her.

The doors slid open and the trainers stepped out into the open. Dixie had taken her time to stretching her arms high above her head and taking in a deep breath before noticing that Jakkaru was starting to lead the way to her home. And Jaxx was following after her, looking back and smirking at Dixie. It seemed to be a way of saying, _'C'mon, slowpoke'_.

Giving a slight scowl, Dixie started forwards before getting tapped on the shoulder and turning to be facing two people. A male and a female. Perched on top of the man's shoulder was a Murkrow that was happily preening itself, and beside the woman stood a Meowth that licked at its paws.

"U-um... h-hello?" Dixie greeted, a little uncertain by the two people that had come up to her.

"Hi there, young trainer!" the female piped up, brushing her long orange hair out of her face. "My name is Rachel Hopkins, and this is my partner, Harvey Yeltz. I must say, your Charmander is certainly a beautiful specimen! Tell me, are you willing to trade for it?"

Dixie's expression became shocked. "What? Zal? No... No! Zalaras isn't up for any 'trade'!" Dixie sounded disgusted as she said that. Zalaras had turned his attention up to his trainer, curious as to know what was causing her sudden change in attitude. He turned his gaze up to the two new strangers and then gave another slight growl -- he disliked their scent already.

"Oh, but surely you'll reconsider when you hear what we have to offer for it!" the male quipped, coming over to the dark-haired girl's side. He held up a PokéBall and then started to go on, "we have Dratini, Eevee and even Johto and Hoenn native Pokémon that we'd be willing to trade for it!"

"B-but... but Zalaras is my starter! He's also my friend, I-I can't just trade him!" Dixie said, her thoughts drifting over to her owning a Dratini or an Eevee of her very own.

Quickly, she shook her head and backed away from the duo, Zalaras quickly trailing after her and clinging to her pant leg once more. He didn't seem too sure about the people that were talking to Dixie, but he didn't like the tone that his trainer was using with them -- which most likely meant that they were wanting something that she didn't want to give them. He noticed that their gazes shifted over to him for a moment and Zalaras' body tensed, bracing itself for battle.

"C'mon, girl!" Rachel pressed, nearing Dixie. "You're passing up owning your very own Dratini or Eevee to keep that Charmander of yours? Think about it! Eevee... just by raising it under any type of extreme condition, over day or night, or just simply using a stone, you could have one of your very own 'Eeveelution' that's powerful." Rachel stepped closer to the colourful girl, her Meowth following close behind with a rather mischievous look on its face.

"Or even Dratini!" Harvey interjected. "You could evolve it into the great serpentine being of Dragonair and then raise it some more to have it evolve into the great and powerful Dragonite! If you're planning on entering the Indigo League one day, it's definitely one to have on your team!"

"But I don't _want_ any other Pokémon for Zalaras!" Dixie yelled, capturing both Jaxx and Jakkaru's attentions. The duo had made their way towards the brunette's house and were actually quite a ways off. Hearing Dixie's yell, though, Jaxx had slipped off his backpack and then came darting to her side, looking to the two people that seemed to be bothering her. His hand was drawn to his chain, his fingers tracing along the PokéBall that contained Fang.

"This is a once in a lifetime trade, girlie!" Rachel almost growled, fighting to keep her composure about herself. Harvey had immediately gone over to Rachel's side, shaking his shaggy, forest green hair out of his eyes and looking down to the boy that had just arrived. It seemed that Rachel was still too focused on Dixie to have noticed that her 'friend' had come up to them as well.

"Just leave me alone and save your rare Pokémon for someone else who would rather trade off their friends just to have a strong team." Dixie was obviously disgruntled as she had said that, as she crouched down and placed her arms around the golden lizard protectively. Zalaras had no objections to this action this time. He just stood there with his mouth clenched and a small growl emitting from the back of his throat as he stared at Rachel and Harvey.

"We'll battle you, then! If we win, you trade, if you win, we'll leave ya alone." Rachel said, pulling a capsule from the belt that was slung around her waist.

"I'd love to battle, but not under those lousy condi--" Dixie started before getting cut off again.

"Hey! That's not right! Dixie said that she didn't want to trade! You shouldn't force her into a battle that has those kind of rules set up when she doesn't want to do that!" Jakkaru had finally made her way over to where all the fuss was starting to break out and had a relatively annoyed look on her face. She, too, had a PokéBall in her hand, seeing if she would need to summon the creature within.

"You two should really mind your own business..." Harvey said, grabbing a PokéBall from a strap that dangled from his side and expanding it. He narrowed his eyes at the two kids that had come up to defend the darker-haired girl.

"I don't want to trade!" Dixie shot at them, her embrace on Zalaras tightening. "H-he may be a stubborn Charmander at times... and maybe a little hardheaded, but I'm not going to give up and start anew with one of your Dratini or Eevee. Gaining trust takes time, and I'm going to take that time to bond with him."

Zalaras looked up at Dixie, not really knowing what to think of his trainer anymore. A realization soon came over him and he turned his attention to the two people that stood before them. Breaking free of Dixie's grasp, he ran out and stood in an offensive stance, getting ready for battle.

"Char char mander Charmander!" Zalaras angrily started, the flame on the tip of his tail burning a little more vigorously than it had been.

"Zalaras...?" Dixie looked out the the golden lizard that new stood in front of her. He shifted his gaze back to her for a moment and then gave his full attention to Rachel and Harvey. Getting the message, the colourfully clad girl stood up and grinned a bit.

"Fine... looks like Zal is up for it. I accept your challenge!" Dixie announced, giving off this aura of new found determination.

Jaxx glanced over to Dixie for a moment and then fiddled with Fang's PokéBall on his chain once again. Detaching the PokéBall, he pressed the button on it and expanded the capsule to something the size of a baseball and held it out. A smirk made its way upon his lips as he asked a question, "looks like you two are up for a two-on-two battle. You don't mind if my Growlithe battles alongside her Charmander, do you?"

"Heh, knock yourself out, boy." Rachel sneered, throwing out the PokéBall that she held and releasing the Pokémon within. Immediately, a foul stench filled the air and just about everyone besides Rachel, Harvey and their own Pokémon had covered their noses. As the white light that engulfed the Pokémon revealed what it was, it was shown that the plant-type Pokémon that had been released glittered underneath the light.

The Gloom, itself, had a green body and a greenish-tinted flower blossoming upon its head instead of the normally seen blue bodied, reddish flowering Glooms. Drool dribbled down its large mouth and it bounced on its feet slightly. The flower petals bobbed up and down as it moved, the stench growing more rancid as the spores from the flower started to spread through the air. Gloom's mouth stretched itself into a smile as soon as it saw that the kids and other Pokémon seemed to have been affected by the smell that her flowering appendage was producing.

"Th-that explains the putrid stench!" Dixie coughed, raising an arm to cover her nose and using her free hand to pull out her Dex and flip it open.

_'Gloom, the Weed Pokémon.'_ Dexter's robotic voice rang out as soon as it had scanned the Pokémon. _'Gloom gives off a very unpleasant smell. While strong against Water Pokémon, Gloom is weak against Fire and Flying types.'_

"All right!" shouted an excited, though muffled Dixie. "Zal! It looks like you have the type advantage, bud!"

"Puns..." Jaxx scoffed, releasing Fang and using his other hand to pull the collar of his shirt up over his nose.

Fang howled with joy as he was released out into the open, though his expression quickly changed and fur immediately stood up along the ridge of his back as soon as he saw the Gloom. He growled slightly, though it was cut short. As soon as Fang's sharp, canine senses picked up on the stench that Gloom gave off, Fang had crouched down low to the ground and then placed a paw up and over his nose.

"Nn... sorry boy..." Jaxx muttered when he saw Fang's reaction to the Gloom's smell. He clenched a fist and then averted his attention to Harvey. Jaxx wondered what Pokémon that he'd be sending out. So far it looked like Dixie and himself had the type advantage against the Gloom, but whatever the green-haired man had, it would definitely factor into him and Dixie coming out of this the victors or the losers.

Smirking, Harvey threw out his PokéBall and an odd cry rang out. A Drowzee stood before them, towering over Zalaras and Fang both. His skin, too, glittered in the sunlight that was cast over them. The Drowzee's skin was a mauve colour that seemed to also sport twilight lavender colourings at its lower half.

Dixie had moved her Dex from Gloom to the Drowzee and awaited it to scan the creature. As soon as the image came up for the Pokémon, the girl narrowed her eyes. The picture that Dexter provided showed that Drowzee was normally a golden colour with a brown lower half.

_'Drowzee, the Hypnotic Pokémon. It is said to feed on the dreams of its opponents. It is also known for its powerful Psychic attack.'_

Jakkaru's muffled voice called out to both Jaxx and Dixie, "you both be careful with that Drowzee! They've got a nasty combination of Hypnosis and Dream Eater! It's definitely bad news for your Pokémon!"

"Got it..." Dixie muttered, trying not to let the aroma of the Gloom get to her.

"You won't have a chance to attack! Gloom, immobilize that Growlithe and Charmander with your Stun Spore attack!" Rachel commanded.

"Ga-loooooom!" the Gloom had sprung back and arced its head down, releasing a cloud of yellow spores that made its way towards both Fang and Zalaras.

"Fang! Don't let it get to you! Flamethrower!" Jaxx called out.

Snarling somewhat, Fang quickly stepped back and then opened his mouth. A stream of flames fired from his mouth and towards the cloud that contained the immobilizing spores. The spores seemed to burn before reaching either Zal or Fang, and seeing that, Rachel had a look of annoyance on her face.

"Let's see how well that works when your Pokémon are asleep!" Harvey exclaimed. He motioned Drowzee forwards and then told it to attack, "Drowzee, show that mutt your Hypnosis!"

Giving another one of its odd cries, the mauve and twilight lavender coloured Drowzee stepped forwards and out in front of Fang. The Growlithe growled at it, though was suddenly caught up in the mesmerizing motions that the Drowzee was displaying by waving its arms up and down. As soon as Fang's eyes were focused on the Drowzee, the tapir-looking Pokémon's eyes then glowed a blue colour and its Hypnosis attack started to take place.

Fang's eyes started to grow heavy and he staggered forwards. He tripped over his own feet and was soon asleep on the ground. His breathing was slow and deep of that of being in slumber and a small disgruntled scoff could be heard coming from Jaxx.

Throwing a fist into the air in triumph, Harvey called out another attack for the Drowzee to use, "all right then, Drowzee... give that pooch a good nightmare, why don't ya? Dream Eater!"

Cackling in delight, Drowzee's eyes faded from its blue glow and then shifted to a red colour. As it did, Fang started to writhe on the ground, whimpering and whining. Jaxx gritted his teeth as he saw his Pokémon going through the combination of attacks that Jakkaru had specifically warned them about.

"Go after that Charmander again, Gloom! Use Razor Leaf this time!" Rachel shouted out.

Gloom charged forwards this time while tilting her head down. She neared Zalaras and attempted to knock him off balance before releasing a barrage of leaves into the air to slice and cut at the small Charmander.

"Oh no, Zal! Get out of the way if you can!" Dixie yelled, removing her arm from over her nose.

Trying to react quickly, Zalaras jumped from where he was, his left arm getting scratched up by the razor sharp leaves as they rushed past him. The golden lizard winced in pain, though held his ground fairly well as he looked back up to both the Gloom and Drowzee.

"Go after Drowzee, Zalaras! Use Scratch!"

Quickly swiping his tail at the Gloom to ward her off, Zalaras drew his claws back and then charged after the Drowzee. Luckily, it was still enjoying its time feeding off of Fang's dreams to react in time to the golden lizard, despite that Harvey had yelled out to warn the tapir-looking Pokémon. Looking to the Charmander in surprise as the little lizard jumped up, the Drowzee stumbled back some, releasing its hold on the Growlithe and getting scratched across the face.

"Atta boy, Zal! Good going!" Dixie praised, jumping up and clapping her hands together for a moment before composing herself once again.

"Heh..." Harvey's expression turned smug as now the Charmander was close to his Pokémon. "Now's your chance, Drowzee! Use Hypnosis on that little reptile!"

"What?!" Dixie was taken aback. Her eyes widened as the Drowzee's eyes glowed that blue colour once again and stared straight at Zalaras. She flinched as she watched the golden lizard's eyes start to droop and his legs start to wobble.

"Ah-- Zalaras, c'mon, you can fight it!" Dixie shouted. Much to her dismay, the small golden lizard had fallen to the ground much like Fang had and was now in a deep slumber. Taking a step forwards, the colourfully-dressed girl was about to run out to her Pokémon before Jaxx held out an arm and had returned Fang to its capsule.

"Didn't say we couldn't switch out our Pokémon." A slight smirk had made its way onto Jaxx's lips as he said that. He reattached Fang's PokéBall to his chain and then pulled off another capsule. Dixie immediately saw it as Spearow's, as the capsule lacked the water droplet mark that his Squirtle's PokéBall had.

"You sure you should be sending that one out so soon?" Dixie asked.

Jaxx nodded. "It's not like its going to come to bonding with me if I never send it out, after all."

"Tch, go and give that Charmander your Petal Dance before that kid can send any other Pokémon out, Gloom!" Rachel scoffed, narrowing her eyes to the two preteens.

"Gloom ga-loooom!" Petals started to flow from the flowering appendage on top on Gloom's head and then swirled through the air. Like the Razor Leaf attack before, the petals rushed for Zalaras as did Gloom. The grass-type Pokémon came into contact with Zalaras and the lizard was thrown back, more scratches upon its body from the Petal Dance.

"No, Zal!" Dixie pushed past Jaxx as he released his Spearow and then quickly knelt down beside her starter. Scooping him up, she looked to the Gloom that seemed to have a rather malicious grin on its face and then moved herself back with the sleeping and battered Charmander in her grasp.

"Dream Eater on that little Pokémon!" Harvey commanded, ignoring the fact that Dixie had basically taken Zalaras out of battle.

Drowzee's eyes glowed red once again and then Zalaras started to flail weakly in Dixie's grasp. The dark-haired girl tightened her embrace around the small fire-type and then furrowed her brow as she looked up to both Rachel and Harvey. There was no other Pokémon that she could possibly be using now that Zalaras was out and apparently having nightmares.

"Spearow! Dive down at Drowzee with a Peck attack! Break its focus!" Jaxx called out after looking at Dixie for a moment.

Doing as he was instructed to do, Spearow dove down from his spot in the sky and aimed for his beak to hit the Drowzee in the forehead. The Drowzee broke his Dream Eater attack and looked up the Spearow at the last second, getting hit right in the nose by the fowl.

The Drowzee gave a cry of surprise before staggering backwards and raising his hands to his nose and rubbing at it gently to make the pain go away. When the Drowzee removed his hand from his nose, a large scratch from where Spearow had gotten it was revealed.

"Show that bird no mercy, Drowzee! Psychic!" Harvey called out, watching the Spearow circle high above.

Obliging to his trainer's command, Drowzee's eyes locked on Spearow. A force was exerted out and Spearow was now hurdling towards the ground as if someone had grabbed it and was pulling it down. Drowzee's hands glowed with a blue aura as this happened, a slight smile stretching upon its face.

"Sentreeeeeeeet!" a high pitched cry echoed out.

Everyone that was there turned their attention in the direction that the cry had come from. As they did, a Sentret donning a checkered fedora had burst out from the neighbouring bushes and jumped onto the Drowzee. It rose its milky white paws and then extended the claws hidden within and then proceeded to scratching wildly at the psychic Pokémon's face.

"Gloom, do something about that rodent!" Rachel cried out, trying to hide her surprise of the sudden appearance. She clenched a fist and then issued another command, "use Bullet Seed on that Sentret!"

Nodding, the green Gloom opened her mouth and fired a series of seeds towards the tan Pokémon. Unfortunately enough for the grass-type, Sentret had picked up on that and had jumped out of the way, the seeds hitting the Drowzee square in the face and knocking him onto his back.

With his attention fully set upon the Gloom now, Sentret darted forwards, showing off its Quick Attack. The Gloom and her trainer, both, looked at the speeding little creature and just as Rachel was about to issue another attack, it was too late. Sentret had tackled the Gloom backwards and then jumped back. It looked to the Spearow for a moment, still not happy with the prospect that it tried to capture him.

"Dixie... that's..." Jaxx started, looking at the Sentret that had immediately taken to attacking the two alternately coloured Pokémon.

"What's he doing out here? I thought we left him to stay back with his colony..." Dixie commented, still cradling the sleeping Zalaras in her arms. She was quite surprised to see that the hat-wearing Sentret had seemed to had followed them all the way into Viridian.

Harvey and Rachel's gaze were still set upon the Sentret that zipped across their line of sight. After a few bouts of a series of Quick Attacks to both the Gloom and the Drowzee with only _some_ assistance from the Spearow, Sentret had gone in at the most opportune moment and slammed into Drowzee, knocking it back into Gloom.

Both of the Pokémon struggled back up, showing themselves to be too weak to continue to battle. They had already been slightly worn down from Zalaras and Fang previously, and now the Sentret appeared and easily outdid them with its speed.

Angered, both Rachel and Harvey called back their Pokémon and considered sending out both their Meowth and Murkrow before stepping back. The two looked at each other for a moment and then saw the Sentret scurry over to Dixie's side before deciding to just leave their meeting with the kids at that.

"Well... I'm just going to go out and say that you kids got lucky this time around..." Rachel announced. "However, that Charmander will be ours... just as well as any other rare, alternately coloured Pokémon shall be."

"This isn't the last you'll see of us, I can assure you that." With that, both Rachel and Harvey, as well as their Meowth and Murkrow, turned along a trail and started down it. Jaxx, Dixie and Jakkaru simply looked after them, not really caring much for the last thing that Rachel had said to them.

"Sentret sen!" the small rodent waved his arms up at Dixie and then balanced up on his tail.

Jakkaru laughed. "Did you two meet this guy already? Looks like he seems to take a liking to you, Dixie."

"R-really?" Dixie questioned, looking up and Jakkaru and then back to the Sentret.

"Maybe it's because you helped it out by using that potion on it and then exerting no want to catching it by battling it..." Jaxx suggested, shrugging and then holding out his arm. The Spearow had hopped from the ground and fluttered to the outstretched arm, using it as a perch and then proceeding to preen himself.

Looking back to the Sentret, Dixie rose a hand cautiously and then held it out in front of the Sentret. "You... wanna be part of my team?" she asked, a little uncertain.

Bouncing on its tail slightly, the Sentret nodded and then placed both of his furry paws up against her hand. He smiled up at her and then lowered himself back to standing on his own two feet. He pulled his paws away from her and then took off his checkered fedora.

Lowering her hand into her messenger bag, Dixie pulled out a PokéBall and then showed it to Sentret. "Care to make it official... Scout?" she offered a smile and hoped that the nickname that she had said would be satisfactory for him. The Sentret hopped at the name, feeling more accepted as being part of the team and then pressed a paw to the PokéBall's button, becoming encased within.

"Heh... ended up capturing it after all..." Jaxx remarked, returning Spearow to his own capsule.

-------------------------------------------

"Really, Ruth... we're just going to let those kids get off scott-free without getting that Charmander?"

"Oh shush, Harold!" 'Rachel' snapped back. "You really want to get Officer Jenny involved with us _again_ for keeping a battle up with those kids in front of a _Pokémon Center_? I don't know about you, but I'd rather get the collecting done without having to deal with those officers again."

"Right..." Harold meekly replied, looking to the Murkrow that flew alongside him.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Since the battle had come and passed, several hours had gone by. In those several hours, Dixie and Jaxx had both been scolded by Nurse Joy for engaging in a Pokémon battle right outside the center. Dixie had come to apologizing for what she and Jaxx had gotten into and then explaining to Nurse Joy what it was that had gone on and why the battle had taken place. After the scolding and Dixie declining Nurse Joy's offer to take in Zalaras for minor wounds, the duo were soon being led to Jakkaru's house once more.

It took a moment for Dixie and Jaxx both to adjust to seeing Jakkaru's house when they had reached the gates that led to the entrance. The house, itself, was huge. It had two floors and Dixie even caught sight of a relatively large pond in their backyard when she and Jaxx were being walked to the front door of Jakkaru's house.

As the Jakkaru opened the door to her home, a pleasant aroma wafted through the air and hit all three of the kids' noses. The smell was alluring and immediately drew both Dixie and Jaxx in the house. Jakkaru couldn't help but to smile slightly in amusement to their reactions to her mother's cooking.

"So... this is were I live. Be sure to make yourself at home!" Jakkaru happily said, stepping in through the door and taking off her shoes. She motioned for the other two to do the same, and they did. Jakkaru stepped into a living room looking area and then spread her arms out to show off the decently sized room. However, she motioned more to the maroon coloured, leather couches and then waved the two over. After she had, Jakkaru walked out of the room and towards the area that was presumably the kitchen.

Both Jaxx and Dixie hesitantly made their way over to the couch and took a seat on it. Jaxx furthered himself from Dixie and the golden lizard and took to leaning against the arm of the couch. His black hair shagged over his eyes for a moment before he shook them out of his face and then turned his attention to Dixie. She was cradling Zalaras as he slept, a small smile on her face as she cooed to him.

Jaxx gave an inaudible sigh as he watched Dixie with her Charmander and then subconsciously fingered the PokéBalls that were attached to the chain that dangled on his left side. Noticing this, the dark-haired male took three of the occupied PokéBalls from it and released each Pokémon that were contained within. Now before him, a Spearow, a Squirtle and a rather dazed Growlithe stood.

Dixie had averted her gaze for a moment and then saw that Fang the Growlithe had jumped up onto the leather seating of the couch and snuggled up against Jaxx. A smile grew onto the boy's mouth as Dixie watched him and his Pokémon together. He seemed so different when interacting with Pokémon as he did with people in general. Dixie had tilted her head a little as she watched Jaxx's Squirtle also come over and reach up, hoping to get pulled into its trainer's lap.

Succumbing to the Squirtle's wants, Jaxx had leaned over and picked the Squirtle up, placing it next to him. The little turtle Pokémon seemed pleased by this and like the Growlithe, curled up against Jaxx. The boy's Spearow, on the other hand, had taken to a potted plant that stood next to the couch on Jaxx's end and was fluffing his feathers. As it did, it eyed both Jaxx and Dixie rather cautiously and then gave a slight series of chirps that resembled a cackle when it saw Zalaras' rather poor condition.

"Slooooooow pooooooke..."

Turning their heads in the direction of the sound, Dixie, Jaxx and their Pokémon came to be looking at a Slowpoke that had meandered into the room. It gave them all a rather dumb look and then proceeded to yawn before walking ahead a couple more feet. It completely ignored the fact that both of the preteens were watching him with piqued interests. Dixie more so than Jaxx, as she had pulled her PokéDex from her messenger bag and aimed it for the Slowpoke.

_'Slowpoke, the Dopey Pokémon. No one can tell when a Slowpoke is thinking, if it ever does think. Its specialty is fishing with its tail.'_

"Huh..." Dixie was looking at the image that Dexter had provided and then looked up at the Slowpoke that was slowly making its way into another room. As Dixie compared the image that was on the screen that was on her PokéDex, she noticed that the one she was seeing right in front of her was more of a light peach colour as opposed to the pink colour that Dexter was showing that they normally were.

"Never seen one like that back at the zoo in Fuchsia..." Jaxx commented, raising a hand to pat Fang on the head affectionately. He had shrugged off the sight of the Slowpoke as if it were no big deal... the same as he had when he laid eyes upon Zalaras and his different colouration at Professor Oak's laboratory.

"... What's it like in Fuchsia?" Dixie asked him, now no longer focusing on the Slowpoke, but now looking to Jaxx and putting her Dex away. Zalaras had stirred in his sleep as his trainer had moved, however, as she sat back and placed a hand on top of him, he seemed to come to be more at peace.

"It's nothing all that special..." Jaxx started with a shrug, not looking to the dark-haired girl. "It's like any other city. It's got a gym, it's got a Pokémon Center, a mart.... Like I said... nothing special."

"B-but... there's the Safari Zone there!" exclaimed Dixie, edging a little closer to Jaxx with a grin. "I mean... there's so many different and exotic Pokémon living there! Doduo, Nidorino, Nidorina, Chansey, Tangela, Kangaskahn, Scyther, Pinsir, Tauro--"

"I _get_ it, Dixie... and there's no point in listing them all for me. I come from Fuchsia, remember?" Jaxx said, a little annoyed with her. "We all have our views, alright? I come from Fuchsia, so it's not that exciting to me...."

"... Sorry..." came a meek response from Dixie as she turned her attention back to Zalaras. She slowly started to stroke him and then remembered Scout, who was still within his PokéBall. She reached for her messenger bag once again and then pulled out the occupied PokéBall. Looking to it for a moment, she pulled a permanent marker from her bag as well and uncapped it.

Arching a brow to this, Jaxx watched as Dixie drew a fedora on the capsule.

"Any particular reason you're doing that?" Jaxx questioned, turning his attention back to Fang.

"Mhm!" Dixie held the PokéBall capsule out to Jaxx and grinned. "It's so I can tell the difference between what Pokémon is in what PokéBall!"

"Jakkaru... how many times have I told you to come home during the afternoon so that we know that you're at least alright?" an older woman's voice rang out, catching both Dixie and Jaxx's attentions. They had turned their heads to look to the other room that the voice was coming from and saw a relatively tall, brown-haired woman who's hair came to about her mid-back. She had a hand towel in her hands and was walking rather hastily out of the kitchen towards where Jaxx and Dixie were sitting.

The woman's brown eyes had caught sight of both of the preteens with their Pokémon sitting on the couch in the living room and she swiftly made her way over, a smile finding its way upon her lips. She tucked the hand towel into the pocket of the apron that she wore and then looked back to Jakkaru.

"You didn't tell me that you brought friends over, sweetie..." the brown-haired woman said to Jakkaru.

"... Yes I did, mom..." Jakkaru responded, a little flustered. She looked over to Jaxx and Dixie, a slight pleading look in her expression.

"When was this?"

"When I walked into the kitchen. I said, 'mom, I hope you don't mind, I brought a couple friends here to spend the night so that they can be on their way to Pewter City tomorrow.' ... Didn't you hear me?"

"I must've not been paying attention. I'm very sorry, sweetie." Jakkaru's mother then turned her attention to both Dixie and Jaxx, offering them a warm and welcoming smile. Extending a hand to Dixie and then Jaxx for the handshake greeting gesture, she was quick to [belatedly] welcoming them into their home.

"This is the Korekuta residence. It's pretty much a haven for both Pokémon and us. But please! Certainly make yourselves at home!" She brushed a lock of brown hair out of her face and then took a seat in one of the empty chairs that was also in the living room. "My name is Tora Korekuta... and obviously you both know my daughter, Jakkaru. Though, if you two ever spot my husband around, his name is Hinaki."

"So... what are your names, hm?" Tora looked to both Dixie and Jaxx, that warm smile still on her face.

"I'm Dixie Tucker!"

"Jaxx Meola...."

"Ah, such a pleasure to be meeting you both. I'm really glad that Jakkaru was able to bring people here this time instead of only Pokémon." Tora looked back to her daughter and gave her a wink to let her know that she was kidding around. Averting her attention from her daughter and back to the two preteens that were sitting on the couch.

"I'm also guessing that you two aren't from around here, either. Judging by your Pokémon, I'm going to say that you both have come from Pallet Town."

"Yep! Me and Jaxx are going to be on our way to Pewter City tomorrow morning!" Dixie chirped, patting Zalaras and giving a small grin in Tora's direction. Jaxx had merely turned his attention from her again and then looked to the Spearow that was perched upon the potted tree's branches.

"Pewter City, huh?" Tora questioned, her expression becoming thoughtful before a man's voice rang out from the kitchen.

"Tora, dinner's starting to burn!"

"Oh my..." Tora started, hurriedly getting up from the seat and rushing over to the doorway that led to the kitchen. As she made her way over, Tora had taken to smoothing out her apron and muttering to herself, "I shouldn't really be all that forgetful, I really need to start to remember the things that I was doing."

Jakkaru made her way over to where it was that her mother was sitting and took up the seat. She gave an apologetic look to both Dixie and Jaxx as she smoothed out her shirt. Not really sure on how to bring up any kind of topic.

"I apologize for my mother, she gets distracted real easily when she's not in her study..." Jakkaru explained while looking to her left and motioning towards a door. Both Dixie and Jaxx glanced at the door and then turned their attention back to Jakkaru. She gave then a sheepish smile as soon as they looked to her and then rubbed the back of her neck, still not quite sure on what to say.

"What's with that Slowpoke?" Dixie asked, looking in the direction that she remembered the Slowpoke going in.

"You mean Mango?" Jakkaru questioned. She smiled some in acknowledgment that it was the orange-y Slowpoke that Dixie and Jaxx had seen before, "Mango is a pet that my parents found on the Orange Islands. His colour is something that my mom was looking into, but we came up that it was just from what area that they found it from. My mentor actually showed me that there were other kinds of Slowpoke, but the ones that are like your Charmander are actually much darker in colour."

"The Orange Islands? Wow... that must have been really awesome! What was it like there?" Dixie asked, hugging Zalaras to her and waking up the small lizard Pokémon. Zalaras fidgeted a bit before sitting up and looking around rather tiredly.

"Yeah! Let's talk more about that at dinner... I'm sure my mom has finished it up. Oh! And why not also let out your Sentret? I'm sure that it would like something to eat as well."

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Outside, the air was crisp and cool as Dixie had made her way into the Korekuta backyard. It was a good size for a yard as the dark-haired girl looked around and observed some of the decorations that were out there. She paused near the pond and then crouched down next to it to look inside. A smile found its way onto her lips as she looked down and saw Magikarp and Goldeen in the water.

Staying there for a few minutes, Dixie got up and then continued towards a gazebo that was a few paces away. There was a few times where she actually stopped to admire the Butterfree that fluttered around in the moonlight.

Pulling out the PokéGear that her aunt had given to her before leaving, Dixie finally had made it to the gazebo and then checked the time. She had gotten up after everyone else was tucked away in bed and had made her way to coming outside. Luckily for her, none of the Pokémon that Jakkaru or her parents had inside really made any noises as she passed by to go outside.

12:43 AM.

Putting the Gear away and then proceeding to drum her fingers against the railing of the structure that she stood in, Dixie rose her gaze to the moon. Thoughts about gym battles and some day entering the Indigo League entered her mind. They were all very exciting thoughts, there was no doubt about that. To actually compete against some of the best trainers in the region... it was something that she had looked forward to when she and Trixie had left from Saffron City together.

"There you are..."

Jumping, Dixie turned and looked around to be looking over to Jaxx. He stood in the center of the trail that led to where she was and had a hand stuffed into his pocket. She waved to him and then offered a slightly sheepish look.

"Hey Jaxx, what are you doing out?"

"I could ask you the same question. I had woken up and saw that Zalaras and your Sentret were asleep on the bed without you."

"Oh..." Dixie then gave a slight chuckle and then turned her attention back up to the moon.

"I wanted to get out since I couldn't go back to sleep...."

Jaxx made his way into the gazebo and then leaned against the railing that was opposite of her.

"Why are you checking up on me anyways?" Dixie asked, also leaning with her back up against the railing and giving him a rather playful smirk. "Ya can't tell me that you were actually worried about me."

"Tch, no.... Honestly? I'd be more worried about your Pokémon before I'd even consider being worried about you."

Dixie gave a subtle flinch at that. She liked her Pokémon a lot, yes... but the fact that Jaxx had just said that to her in all seriousness was something that felt like a slap across the face. Turning away from Jaxx, she propped her arms up on the railing and then scowled a bit, keeping quiet. She didn't voice it, but it showed in her expression... Dixie was saddened by what words that came from Jaxx's mouth. There was a hope when she had met him at Professor Oak's that they would at least be able to become rather close friends.

"Whatever... at least you're not out and about or doing something stupid, I guess I can go back up..." Jaxx said after a while, pushing himself from the railing and walking away from the gazebo. Dixie had clenched a fist, keeping herself from calling out to him as she heard his footsteps against the cobbled pathway as he made his way back to the Korekuta residence.

Hearing the door close, Dixie stayed out for just a few moments longer before slowly making her way back to the house as well.

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"Sentret sen seeeeentret!"

The small cries of Scout had made Dixie stir in bed and then finally sit up to rub at her eyes. Looking around and blinking to clear the blurriness from her eyes, the dark-haired girl made out Jaxx's figure. He looked to be getting his stuff packed away into his bag and getting his hair fixed at the same time.

Turning, he gave Dixie a look and said rather curtly, "it's about time you got up."

"What time is it?" asked a very tired Dixie as she ended her question with a small yawn. Scout had put his checkered fedora down, scampered over to her and nuzzled against her as soon as she had looked over to where he and Zalaras were.

"Almost late enough that if we don't leave within the hour, we're not getting to Pewter for another two days..."

Hearing that, Dixie had thrown the covers off and jumped out of bed. Scout was held in her arms looked a little surprised by how fast she had reacted. He fidgeted a bit before coming free from her hold and crawling up to hang onto her shoulder.

"Ahh! I need to get dressed!" Dixie exclaimed, marching up to Jaxx and pushing him. "Out, out!"

"Hey, watch it! I'm going, I'm going! Jeeze..." Jaxx replied, a little annoyed by the action that the dark-haired girl had exerted. He went outside of the room and turned to say something before getting the door shut in his face. He scowled slightly and then folded his arms over his chest, very disgruntled with what just happened. There was something that he had wanted to say to her... looked like it was going to have to wait.

Dixie, on the other hand, also sported a rather annoyed look on her face as she backed away from the door and made her way to her bulky messenger bag that was slung upon the back of a chair. She pulled out Scout and Zalaras' PokéBalls and returned them into their capsules. Zalaras gave a small fuss, but ended up going inside anyways. Dixie then pulled out her colourful array of everyday clothes from it and began to get dressed.

Thoughts about what Jaxx had said to her last night were running though her head as she got dressed. The more she thought about it, the more she actually began to grow frustrated and a little more saddened by what it was that he _had_ said to her.

"Didn't have to sound so mean about it..." Dixie muttered to herself as she pulled on her green and purple striped gloves and then clipped on her red barrettes to pin her bangs back. She started for the door and then opened it to find Jaxx still stand outside, patiently waiting for her to be finished.

"... Didn't expect you to be waiting out here..." Dixie said truthfully. She backed up into the room as Jaxx brushed past her and went to retrieve his backpack. Looking to him and folding her arms over her chest, Dixie made her way over to her own messenger bag, picked it up and made her way out of the room without saying anything more to Jaxx.

"Hey, I have something to... say..." Jaxx started a little too late. A scowl made it's way onto his face as he watched her disappear from sight before he had even finished his sentence and then quickly hoisted his backpack up upon his shoulders. Shaking his head a bit, Jaxx walked out of the room, following after Dixie and making his way down the stairs to find Jakkaru packed up and talking with the black-haired girl.

"So you really wouldn't mind me coming along with you guys?" Jaxx heard Jakkaru asked Dixie. At that, he couldn't help but to give an irritated scoff.

"Not at all! Besides, it would be fun to have you to talk with on our journey!" came Dixie's response. Jaxx clenched his jaw as he heard what she had said and then slowly made his way over to the two girls, gave them a look and then made his way over to the front of the house. More than anything, he was just hoping that they would hurry up and get going. He waited by the front door of the house, pulling on his shoes and then looking back to the two girls once again -- this time noticing that Jakkaru was holding an incubator that housed a pale blue egg with white spots.

Tilting his head slightly, Jaxx's interest was piqued by the sight of the egg. He had never seen one of that variety before, and his eldest brother back in Fuschia was a breeder. His attention quickly shied from the two girls as they made their way over, seeming to be all smiles and laughter as they talked with one another.

"So... you two ready to be leaving?" Jaxx asked as the two girls came even closer to being to the front door.

"I am." Jakkaru replied, smiling to him and then looking to Dixie, seeing what it was that her response would be. The brunette's smile faded a bit as soon as she saw Dixie's expression, though. The black-haired girl looked to Jaxx with an upset look upon her face. Turning her attention back to Jaxx for a moment, Jakkaru noted that he averted his gaze from the both of them and started for the door.

"Jakkaru! You and your friends leaving already?" came Tora's voice. All three of the kids looked up to see both Tora and Hinaki in the kitchen passageway. Tora had a large disposable bag in her hands that looked to contain a hefty amount of food that would suffice for the three preteens before making it to Pewter City. Hinaki, on the other hand, had a soft smile on his face and ran and hand though his brown hair while making it over to his daughter and clapping a hand onto her shoulder.

"You'll actually remember to call and check-in with us once in a while this time, won't you?" Hinaki asked, looking down to Jakkaru.

"Of course, dad." Jakkaru handed her incubating egg to Dixie for a moment, walked forwards and hugged her dad and then made her way over to her mother after receiving a swift kiss on top of her head. Tora also sported a smile on her face as Jakkaru walked over to her and walked forwards a bit, herself. The mother embraced her daughter and then handed her the bag to Jakkaru.

"Stay strong and be careful... okay?"

"I will, mom."

"That's my girl..." Tora said, a hint of sadness in her voice as she stroked the back of Jakkaru's head. Before standing up straight, Jakkaru's mother had also placed a kiss on her forehead and then motioned her towards Jaxx and Dixie.

"It was very nice to be meeting you both, and I hope that you two will take care of our daughter." Tora directed at both the preteens that were still in front of the door. She smiled to the both of them and then looked up to her husband. Hinaki merely smiled back to her and then the two of them guided all three of the young trainers out of the house to see them off.

Making their way outside, Dixie and Jakkaru waved to Tora and Hinaki whilst Jaxx stuffed his hands into his pockets and continued forwards.

"All right! This is so exciting! Finally getting to travel around with friends, see new places, catch more Pokémon..." Jakkaru sighed dreamily after she had finished the sentence and then hummed happily as she took her egg back from Dixie and then walked ahead of Dixie and Jaxx.

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Hours had passed and Jakkaru's humming had died down as they had been traveling through Viridian Forest for nearly two hours now. She glanced back to both Dixie and Jaxx several times, making sure that they didn't get lost or hurt. There was one thing that the girl couldn't shrug off, though. It was the fact that Dixie still looked a little irritated and that Jaxx looked a tad more serious than he had when she had met him.

Halting in her tracks and turning to face the two, Jakkaru furrowed her brow.

"All right, you two... what's up? You guys haven't said more than one word since we left my house! Is there something gong on that I don't know about?" the brunette shifted the incubator in her arms a little irritably as she eyed the two preteens.

"Nothing you need to know."

"Don't worry about it."

The two answers were simultaneous and both Dixie and Jaxx gave each other a look shortly after they had given them. They both looked away as quickly as they had turned their attention towards one another and then Jakkaru sighed. She was curious to know what had gone one between the two, but she knew it not right to pry at something that someone didn't want to talk about. She turned and then started ahead through the forest once more, Jaxx and Dixie following after her again.

The silence ensued between the three of them was something that unnerved Jakkaru a bit. She did her best to shrug it off, but she had no such luck. It was the fact that when she had met Dixie that she seemed so full of energy and vigor. Now whatever had happened between the two of them, it seemed to have drained her of both as Jakkaru had witnessed Dixie nearly walking into a few small trees and had quickly gone over to correct her.

"So... what's bugging you, Dixie?" Jakkaru asked as she fell into step beside Dixie and watched as the younger girl kicked at a rock.

"Nothing important..." was Dixie's response as she glanced over to Jaxx and then looked up to Jakkaru. The brown-haired girl gave Dixie a questioning look, though it quickly got shrugged off as they continued forwards. Jakkaru shifted the incubator in her arms once again then turned her attention forwards, trying not to think that something bad happened between Jaxx and Dixie.

"Anyways... do you know what's going to hatch from that egg?" Dixie asked, her question not filled with the normal pep and energy that her voice usually carried. Because of that, Jakkaru frowned and then looked to the incubator in her arms before giving a response.

"Well... I don't really know." It was an honest answer.

"You see... my mentor had given it to me a few weeks back and she said I'd find out soon enough," Jakkaru gave a small, forced smile as she explained that and then had it fade when she turned her attention away from Dixie. Silence had arisen once again and Jakkaru couldn't help but feel a little odd. Since they had all met yesterday, the brunette actually had a pretty good feeling about going with them... and now it seemed that perhaps what she had been thinking was wrong.

Fifteen minutes more of walking and still not a word was uttered. That was until a Caterpie had fallen from its branch and landed on top of Jaxx's shoulder. It was the only thing that had actually sparked a laugh out of Dixie as Jaxx had jumped and brushed the Caterpie onto the ground. The caterpillar Pokémon rolled on the ground a bit before getting back up on its feet and giving a hurt look.

Folding at the sight of the Caterpie, Dixie had gone over and held a hand out to it with a smile. The Caterpie looked to her quizzically and then turned its attention to Jaxx for a moment. As it looked back to Jaxx, the male gave a slight roll of the eyes and then turned his attention away.

"You okay, Caterpie?" Dixie asked, continuing to give the Caterpie a welcoming expression.

"Still going with that 'I'll catch Pokémon by befriending them' type thing, Dixie?" Jaxx asked, folding his arms. He obviously wasn't impressed by her way of trying to get the Caterpie to come to her. However, even though he wasn't necessarily fond of Dixie and her ways, he continued to watch just to see what the outcome of this would be.

"Cut her some slack, at least she's persistent with it, it seems..." Jakkaru interjected, also watching for the outcome of Dixie's way of getting Pokémon to join her team.

"It's never going to work for her in the long run... perhaps for the Sentret and maybe this Caterpie... but what about stronger Pokémon when she comes across them?" Jaxx questioned, giving a shrug of his shoulders and furrowing his brow somewhat. Shaking his head, Jaxx turned away from both girls and the Caterpie and then gave an inaudible scoff.

"I don't see you trying to come up with any other way to catch Pokémon other than battling them!" Dixie retorted, a little flustered and not noticing that the Caterpie had crawled up along her arm. In fact, she had gotten up after it had perched itself on her shoulder and marched over to Jaxx.

He wasn't paying attention. No, instead he was looking up, a slightly surprised expression on his face as Dixie scolded him.

"You could at least be a little more sup... port... ive..." her sentence was turned from angered to questioning that faded out, and both Dixie and Jakkaru had also turned their gaze upwards to look at what it was that Jaxx had his attention focused on. Up above, a bright object was flying through the sky. It almost looked like a plane that had somehow managed to have caught fire.

"No way..." Jakkaru said, her expression that of awe.

"What is that?" asked Dixie, the Caterpie perched upon her shoulder also looking up at what the three preteens were.

"I think... that was a Moltres..." Jakkaru replied, a smile finding a way onto her face. She quickly set down the incubating egg and then turned around to look at Jaxx and Dixie, nearly hopping for joy at what it was that they all had just seen. Quickly nearing both of the dark-haired preteens, Jakkaru slung her arms around their shoulders and then pulled them close.

"Oh wow, oh wooooow! We definitely have to follow it! I have to catch it!" Jakkaru exclaimed, now bouncing on the balls of her feet and letting go of both Dixie and Jaxx. She twirled while clapping her hands together and then beamed in both of her 'companions'' direction again.

"But... how do we even know where it's going?" Dixie asked, standing up straight and finally noticing the Caterpie that seemed to be cowering at Jakkaru's reactions. Dixie held her hand up to it again and then looked back to Jakkaru.

At the question, Jakkaru immediately stopped all her motions and her shoulders slumped. She picked up the incubator and then frowned, "guess you're right.... But still! I _will_ catch a Moltres for my very own one day! I will!"

"And I'll catch a Lugia one day..." Jaxx replied with a smirk, teasing.

As the two bickered about that for a while, Dixie took her opportunity and dug in her messenger bag a bit and then held a PokéBall up to the Caterpie. Obliging itself to the capsule, the Caterpie waited for Dixie to use it and then later became encased within the red and white ball. Smiling to herself, Dixie mentally check-marked two out of however many Pokémon she'd someday come across as being befriended.

"Yeah, well... Dixie's right! You _should_ be at least a little more supportive, Mister 'I-think-I'm-cool'!" Jakkaru heatedly said to Jaxx.

"Pessimist by nature," was all Jaxx said before shoving his hands into his pockets and continuing forwards. Jakkaru growled at his response and then looked back to Dixie, who was drawing a four-point star on a PokéBall. She made her way over, waited till the younger girl was finished drawing on the capsule and then grabbed her by the arm (lightly, of course), and started after Jaxx, still a little upset with him.

"Great... so now they're both mad at me..." Jaxx muttered to himself, giving a slight roll of the eyes and kicking at a rock. He heard it hit something, though merely shrugged it off and continued forwards. There wasn't much that he really cared about at that point and time other than getting back to Fuchsia City as soon as possible. He could have probably done it without being accompanied by two others... but he had to remember that he was the one that had pretty much given the okay to Dixie when she had asked.... Something that he was starting to regret.

"Aahhh! Run!" Jakkaru and Dixie screamed as they rushed past Jaxx. He looked at them quizzically and then glanced back, seeing the reason that the two of them were running. A swarm of Beedrill buzzed behind them. At the sight, Jaxx turned his attention forwards and broke out into a sprint as well, following after both of the girls.

"Why'd you have to go and anger a swarm of Beedrill?" Jaxx asked, looking at Dixie specifically. "Don't tell me you were dumb enough to try and befriend one of those! That's not how things work!"

"Don't yell at me!" Dixie quickly responded, dodging a low hanging branch and then looking to Jaxx for a split second. "I'm not the one that angered them! I didn't even see one until they swarmed! And it's not like I'd actually walk up to one, either!"

"Whatever! Fight later, just keep running!" Jakkaru yelled at the both of them, clutching the incubator close to her as she and the other two ran trough the forest and dodged any natural obstacles that the forest had provided.

The trio had dodged the Beedrill's attacks several times, luckily enough. However, as the three neared a thicket, Dixie had tripped on an upturned root and had fallen to the ground. Jaxx stopped and turned, a little aggravated that that had happened and Jakkaru had paused for a moment to see what was going on. Frowning a bit, though feeling a little glad that Jaxx had run over to help Dixie get back on her feet, Jakkaru had quickly opened her bag and pulled out a PokéBall capsule.

"Looks like you're up... let's see how well you're doing today..." Jakkaru murmured, throwing the ball out. "Whisper! Blow those Beedrill back! Use Gust now!"

The Pidgeotto trilled as he burst from the capsule and then flew up high to face the swarm of Beedrill that were still charging for them. He flapped her wings quickly and whipped up a strong airstream that was directed at all of the Beedrill. The strong winds that Whisper had created stalled the bee Pokémon and Jakkaru turned her attention towards Dixie and Jax, motioning them to get away while she held the Beedrill back.

Nodding to her, Jaxx, got Dixie steady and then motioned her ahead just in case she were to take another spill. After seeing her start forwards once again, he quickly followed after her, glancing back to Jakkaru and hoping that she'd be able to get at those Beedrill by herself.

"What about Jakkaru? Will she be okay?" Dixie asked, also glancing back.

"I'm sure she will be..." Jaxx replied.

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"All right, Whisper!" Jakkaru called out, watching as the Pidgeotto whipped up another strong airstream towards the Beedrill. However, it seemed that numbers of the bee Pokémon were slowly wearing out the fowl. Jakkaru gritted her teeth and then clenched a fist.

"Darn it... if this keeps up any longer, Whisper will have to be taken to the Pokémon Center again..." Raising the capsule for Pidgeotto, Jakkaru called back her Pokémon, put the capsule back into her bag and then clutched at the incubator again. Turning around, Jakkaru started to run in the direction that she had seen Dixie and Jaxx run off to, though she wasn't sure about how well she would be able to outrun these Beedrill this time. She had allowed for them to get relatively close to her for the stalling to have commenced.

Finding a ledge, Jakkaru took the jump and quickly rolled onto her back when she landed on the ground to avoid having the incubator break on her. She looked up and saw the Beedrill fly overhead, passing her by. Giving a sigh of relief, Jakkaru staggered back up to her feet and then looked around. The area she was in was a relatively clear area, which would be good for camping, she figured.

Taking a step forwards, Jakkaru looked around again, wondering if maybe Jaxx and Dixie had come this way as well. After walking around for a good few minutes, Jakkaru stopped and looked up once again as she saw a shadow pass over her.

A Spearow.

It circled overhead a couple of times before swooping down and landing on Jakkaru's shoulder for a brief moment. It pecked at her gently and then took to the sky once again, turning and looking at her.

Getting the message, Jakkaru started after it. It must've been Jaxx's Spearow, now that she was thinking about it. As she followed it, she looked down to the egg that was in the incubator and then smiled to herself, just thankful that the incubator was still okay as was the egg within. There's not telling what would have happened if she were to have accidentally cracked the egg... or broken the incubator. Perhaps have Ember tend to it at times when the time was right on that last one.

"Hey! Jakkaru!"

It was Dixie's voice.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, fine!" Jakkaru replied back to them as she looked up and saw Dixie and Jaxx both standing at the top of the ledge.

Both Jaxx and Dixie cautiously made their way down the ledge and over to Jakkaru. She smiled sheepishly to the two of them and then sat down on the ground. Giving a small sigh, the brunette gave a slight sigh and then laughed a bit.

"Ha... that was close..." Jakkaru said, setting the incubator on the ground next to her as Jaxx returned Spearow to its PokéBall.

"Yeah... it was..." Dixie agreed, giving a sheepish laugh and dusting off the dirt that had clung to her shirt from the fall.

"I think we should stay here for a bit... rest up from that..." Jaxx suggested, shrugging and looking away from the two girls. He walked a few paces away from the two and folded his arms over his chest.

"Sounds like a plan..." Jakkaru replied, taking her bag from her shoulder and also placing it on the ground. Jakkaru gave another slight laugh, "besides... thanks to the excitement... I'm sure that if we continue after our break, we'll make it into Pewter tonight or early tomorrow morning."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Having stayed out for the night in the area that they had found, the trio had rested up from being chased by the Beedrill and started off to be headed back towards Pewter once again. Jakkaru was beginning to gather up some of the things that were in her bag and looking them over... specifically five other PokéBalls that she had in her possession. Dixie had been standing close, looking over her shoulder, noting the fact that each PokéBall had a name written on them which Jaxx was standing off to the side, counting down the seconds when the two girls would actually be ready.

"Okay! That should be everyone at the moment..." Jakkaru said, grinning, scooping up the PokéBalls and then standing up straight while putting them away. She turned to both Dixie and Jaxx, the grin still upon her face as she skipped forwards a bit, linking arms with Dixie happily and dragging the younger girl behind her some. The incubating egg was cradled in Jakkaru's free arm as Dixie staggered a bit, trying to get back up on her feet and stable.

"So... you two finally ready to get going to Pewter City...?" Jaxx asked as Jakkaru had come up to his side along with with the colourfully dressed girl trailing behind her.

"Yup!" Jakkaru said enthusiastically, unlinking her arm with Dixie's and throwing it up into the air. It was obvious at first glance that she was very excited to be on her way once again with both of the darker-haired preteens. The brunette looked back to the both of them and her smile widened into a grin, "and guess what! Once we make it to Pewter, I'm sure that you guys can go and challenge Forrest right away when we get to the gym!"

"Sounds like a plan..." Jaxx replied, no real sense of excitement behind his tone. He shook his hair out of his face and then started down the trail that was most likely created by the many other trainers that had begun their own journeys before them. He watched as Jakkaru started forwards and then followed after her, only stopping after feeling a tug on his shirt.

"What do you want?" Jaxx asked, looking back to Dixie.

"Well... I just..." the dark-haired girl started, drawing her hands together and glancing down to shoes. "I just wanted to say thanks."

"For what? Not like I did anything for you...."

"Yes you did! You helped me back up when we were running from the Beedrill.... So yeah... thanks."

Jaxx looked at Dixie for a long moment, figuring out what to really say to her and then shrugged. He looked away and then started after Jakkaru while giving his response, "yeah... it wasn't that big of a deal. Besides, if you were to get poisoned by one of the Beedrill, it'd drag both Jakkaru and I down on this journey. Don't want that happening."

After hearing that, Dixie gave a slight smile and then skipped to be walking alongside Jaxx. Knowing that he at least cared a _little_ bit was more than enough for her to forgive him a bit for what it was that he had said to her last night.

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"When do you think we'll be running into that brat with the Charmander again, Ruth?" Harold asked, his Murkrow perched upon his shoulder and preening itself with a content air about him.

"They're beginning trainers... I won't be surprised if this city is their first stop..." came Ruth's response as she fitted a blue-haired wig over her vibrant orange hair. She adjusted a waitress' top and then went to adjusting the bow tie that came with it before turning her attention back to Harold and continuing. "You saw them in Viridian City... and if they're like any of the typical trainers that pass this stupid region, one or all of them will be wanting to be taking the gym challenge to be getting into the Indigo League."

"And you think that us playing dress-up to fit the role of a waiter and a waitress at this restaurant is going to work...?"

"I don't see you coming up with any ideas of your own," Ruth snapped, her Meowth looking over from the booth that she was napping in and giving a rather indifferent look to the two young adults that stood there. It gave a yawn and then her ears perked a bit to the sound of other people talking in semi-hushed voices. Hopping up onto the table and then going up onto her rear legs, Meowth put her paws on the barrier between the booths and then listened to the two people sitting there, her tail swishing around a bit.

"That doesn't mean anything..." one of the two people sitting in the booth over said.

"So then you're telling me that you don't find the odd colourings of Pokémon that people have been seeing these days as odd?" the other male asked, pulling out a newspaper followed by print-outs of data and information that immediately caught the Meowth's eyes.

Hurrying across the tabletop and jumping down at Ruth's feet, Meowth pawed at the woman's legs and then motioned towards the barrier between booths. The Meowth had succeeded in grabbing both Harold and Ruth's attentions and then led them over the booth, making sure that the two of them would be quiet so that they could hear what the two guys in the booth over were talking about.

"I never said that this wasn't an odd occurrence... I just don't see how all of this would have anything to do with some of the legendary Pokémon that have been reported to have been seen in all the different regions."

"It could be just a coincidence... but haven't you also noticed odd behaviours in Pokémon that live in the wild as well? Not only in the wild, but even some Pokémon that have been with trainers that they've grown real fond of have been said to have been acting rather strange as well. Gym Leaders from all regions have been talking about it as have some of the Elites."

"... The only real thing that I can think of is what happened at the Orange Islands nearly seven years ago...."

"Exactly.... And the odd weather formations aren't something to be taken lightly, either."

"How do you mean?"

"There's been less snowfall in Snowpoint City in the Sinnoh region; Ecruteak's been experiencing harsh spikes in temperature in Johto; it's been raining almost non-stop for the past week in Lavaridge in Hoenn.... It's even snowed here in the Kanto region near Lavender Town."

"I believe you're digressing from the original matter at hand, Christophe..." the other male replied, straightening out his blazer and moving the newspaper back towards the other middle-aged man. His hand was placed right above the headline that read: 'Pokémon's Odd Colours And Behaviours... Connected?'

"Now... you've read this entire thing, though, have you not, Chris?" the man asked, glancing down to the newspaper.

"Of course, I have, Kirk..." Christophe retorted, rather disgruntled by the tone that the other had taken with him.

"Then you've read up on some of the study research that that biologist, Katy Rohme, has come up with and discussed, yes?"

"Of course... but I feel her explanations on those two aspects of Pokémon are rather flawed."

"Do you wish to take this back up to the museum and discuss it there?"

"It may be best... this place will get busy soon due to the lunch rush...."

With that... the two men gathered up their belongings and made their way to the exit. Ruth and Harold, on the other hand, stayed in the booth that was on the other side of the barrier and then looked to one another. It seemed that in that very instant, the same thought coursed through their minds as they quickly stood up from the booth.

"'Katy Rohme'?" Harold repeated as he straightened out the bow tie that came with the getup that he was currently wearing. He looked to Ruth and then frowned in thought.

"Isn't she that researcher that basically devotes herself to studying the alternate colourings of Pokémon?" Ruth questioned, bringing a hand up to her chin as she thought more about the name that was dropped by the two guys that were sitting there.

"Now that you mention it, I believe that she is..." the green-haired male responded, glancing over to his Murkrow for a moment. The dark fowl was still preening himself, now working on his wings instead of its chest. Harold tore his attention from his Pokémon and then looked back to Ruth.

"Think we should go and do a little more research on this researcher?" Ruth asked, adjusting the blue-haired wig that she had sitting on top on her head.

"Yes... but I believe that to do that, Celadon may be the better choice for reading up on her and getting some information. There's only a few things that I've actually heard about this Katy Rohme, and one of the things was that she actually attended the university that's there." After Harold had said this, however, a thoughtful expression crossed his face for a brief moment.

"Though... do you think that we should wait for those kids with the Charmander?" he asked, musing to himself as he thought about how easily that the small golden lizard seemed to have fallen in battle.

"I don't see why not..." Ruth responded, giving a slight shrug of her shoulders and moving a few stray locks of the wig back out of her face. A smirk had found its way onto her lips and she walked down the aisle of booths a couple paces. "Besides... even if that little reptile is weak, we can always either sell it for a fortune or trade it for an even stronger, rarely coloured Pokémon that we come across."

-------------------------------------------

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"My feet hurt...."

"Quit complaining... we're almost there. Jeeze."

"Would you quit bickering at Dixie?" Jakkaru snapped, looking back to Jaxx with her brow furrowed. She sighed a bit and then crouched down, placing the incubator on the ground and then looking to the two others that she had decided to join on this journey to wherever it was that they were eventually going to wind up someday. Setting down her bulky bag and then opening it to pull out a small, orange device from it, Jakkaru fiddled with the interesting contraption and then finally got a map of the Kanto region to come onto the display.

"According to my PokéNav, it should take just another two hours or so to be getting into Pewter City, and Dixie can go ahead and battle Forrest if she wants to."

At that, Dixie seemed to perk up a bit and she trotted over to where it was that Jakkaru was crouched and then looked over her shoulder, wanting to see the map and what was left to walk before actually getting to her first gym battle. There was a grin etched upon her face as she looked to the distance that the navigator said that they had left to travel. However, her thoughts were broken as after Jaxx had spoken up.

"Are you really sure that you have what it even takes to be battling and defeating a Gym Leader in a Pokémon battle, Dixie?"

"Well... yeah, of course!" Dixie responded, standing up straight and turning to face Jaxx. She folded her arms over her chest as she heard a scoff escape Jaxx's lips. There was a sense of irritation that Dixie felt bubble up when she saw how Jaxx seemed to be treating her like a kid. As far as she was concerned, Jaxx was just as much a kid as she was and shouldn't have whatever air about him that he seemed to carry.

"You've only had one real battle and your Charmander was taken down pretty easily after getting attacked by the Drowzee. You lucked out because of your Sentret that just oh-so decided to come back just because you were nice to it." With that, Jaxx placed his hand on his hip and assumed a rather smug look on his face. "You shouldn't be thinking that you'll be getting that lucky every time...."

"How do you know what I'm even thinking, huh?" Dixie snapped, her hand hovering above her bag pouch where she kept her PokéBalls.

Noticing that, Jaxx smirked a bit and then lowered his hand to slightly above where his own PokéBall capsules were. It was when Jakkaru cleared her throat, stood up and put her PokéNav away with a stern expression on her face that both Dixie and Jaxx simmered down a bit and looked over to her.

"Guys... we're not going to be getting to Pewter City any time sooner if you two keep this up. Quit your flirting and let's get going."

"F-flirting?!" both dark-haired preteens exclaimed, quickly glancing to one another and then looking back to Jakkaru with highly unamused looks on their faces.

"Me flirting with her is like us running into an Articuno! It's not going to happen!" Jaxx heatedly said, folding his arms over his chest in a huff. He irritably shook his hair out of his face and then started forwards, not even waiting for the two girls to follow after him. The quicker that they made it to Pewter, the faster they could have Dixie battle Forrest and _the faster_ he could be getting back to Fuchsia with his brothers.

"I was just joking..." Jakkaru said in a quiet tone, quickly gathering up her things and trotting after Jaxx with Dixie at her side. She gave a slight sigh as she adjusted her bag and then looked over to Dixie for a moment, not really noticing that the younger girl still had a slightly irritated look upon her face from the flirting comment that was made.

"Is Jaxx always like that?" Jakkaru finally asked, striking up some form of conversation with Dixie.

"I guess... I don't know, really." Dixie responded, giving a shrug of her shoulders. "I've only known him for about a day...."

"Ah... right..." Jakkaru kicked at a rock as she cradled her incubator. Silence filled the air again and Jakkaru merely sighed to push away the uneasiness of it. Perhaps it was going to take a good few days of being together to actually have everyone warm up to one another. It was only a group of acquaintances after all.

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"Alright Crobat! Show that Bulbasaur your Supersonic!" yelled a teen on one side of the arena as he clenched a fist and grinned a bit. The Crobat that had been flitting silently through the air hovered for a moment and then emitted a high-pitched screech towards the small Bulbasaur that had jumped back and released a flurry of leaves in its direction, hoping to actually hit the airbourne purple bat with its Razor Leaf attack.

However, Bulbasaur's attack immediately ceased as the Supersonic waves hit its ears. The small dinosaur-looking Pokémon quickly looked around, confused as to what was going on now and even running in a direction and aiming a Tackle attack right into a large boulder that was part of the arena.

"C'mon, give up already and just come back when you can actually take me on!" jeered the spiky-haired Gym Leader as he commanded his Crobat to make an attack on the Bulbasaur.

Swooping down on the Bulbasaur, Crobat slashed at it with its wings with a Wing Attack and then took up farther into the air, turning and looking back to the Bulbasaur and its trainer. Though the Crobat's expression was usually that that seemed to be of indifference, it seemed to cackle somewhat as it saw the small grass-type stagger around the arena in a daze as it tried to shake itself from its confusion.

"Nn..." the trainer on the side of the field looked very concerned for his Bulbasaur as he watched it use a Vine Whip attack and hit nothing. Holding up the PokéBall he called back his Bulbasaur and looked down to the ground in defeat.

"I forfeit... I guess I'm not all that to be taking the Gym Challenge after all...."

"Hey... don't get down on yourself..." the Gym Leader said, calling back his own Crobat and walking across the arena to be closer to his opponent. Placing a hand on the younger boy's shoulder, the spiky-haired teen just gave him a smile and then added, "it's not going to be easy getting through the Gym Challenge, that's for sure, but there's no reason for you to be getting down on yourself because you lost one. It just means that you still have things to learn and tactics to plan out. Just remember that not everyone is going to win their first Gym battle just like that."

"Right... thanks a lot, Forrest!" the younger male said, giving a small smile. "I just guess that Bulbasaur and I will have to come back when we're stronger. But when we do, you have better be prepared!"

Giving a slight chuckle, Forrest nodded, "of course! Until then, I guess I'll be seeing you later then."

"Okay then, and thanks a lot, Forrest!" the trainer said, bowing a bit and then making his way for the doors of the Gym. Forrest watched after him until the young trainer had made his way out of the Gym completely. As he did, the young Gym Leader looked down and sighed a bit. There were still a lot of things that he had to be getting to, but he wasn't going to be getting home till later that evening. Trainers were still most likely going to be showing up so that they could be seeing if they could earn the Boulder Badge from him to be that one step further to being eligible to entering the Indigo League.

There was also the fact that things were starting to be a little weird these days and Forrest sought the help that his older brother, Brock, may have been able to give to him. It wasn't that long ago where the Steelix that Brock had entrusted to Forrest had acted oddly and had destroyed a good portion of the Gym's walls and beams.

Pacing the Gym and contemplating all of this in his mind for a good half hour or so, Forrest found himself at the section of the Gym that had been barricaded off for repairs. It wasn't anything all that great yet, but once all of the repairs were made, the Gym would hopefully be in a much better condition even before it had been unintentionally demolished.

A creak resonated throughout the Gym and Forrest immediately looked towards the door where three kids that looked a lot younger than he stood. Two girls and one male. Hm... that seemed like an odd combination of genders to be wandering the regions – to Forrest, anyways.

"Welcome to the Pewter City Gym." Forrest started, making his way to his side of the arena and looking to the newcomers that had made their appearance. He offered them a small smile and then went on to get proper introductions out of the way, "my name is Forrest, the Gym Leader of Pewter City. I'll be one to see if you can take one of those steps to being eligible to getting into the Indigo League. My policy is like those before me and I sport a mostly all rock-type offense. Which one of you is here to be taking the Gym Challenge today?"

Eying them all, Forrest clenched his fists and then put them at his hips as he awaited an answer from one or all of them. However, once Forrest's gaze fell upon the brunette of the group, he paused for a brief moment and then recognized her from a long while back. Well... there was one of them that was crossed off of his list that would be one of his potential challengers.

"Actually, it's just me that's here to be challenging you today..." the younger girl of the trio responded, stepping forwards and smiling to Forrest a bit. Taking in a breath, she continued to introducing herself, "my name is Dixie Tucker and I come from Saffron City. I've been looking very forward to having this battle, and I'm sure that it's going to be a fun experience."

Forrest looked at the young girl and then folded his arms over his chest as he motioned for her to take the vacant area that was on the opposite side of him. Following his motion, Dixie stood in the lined area that marked where it was that she was to assume position as the battle was to take place.

"Alright... if you're the one that's going to be battling me, then first things first," Forrest started, moving his hands and then drawing a PokéBall from his belt. Expanding it with the push of a button, the teenaged Gym Leader continued on, "this will be a singles battle, two-on-two. The first person to have both Pokémon knocked out loses, got it?"

Dixie nodded a bit as she processed the information that was told to her and then asked a question, "what about substitutions?"

"Ah... right.... Substitutions are allow just as long its one of the two Pokémon that you'll be using for this battle." Forrest gave a slight scowl, more at himself for forgetting something such as that and then tossed the PokéBall in his hand a couple of times. The bell for the start of the match went off and he tossed the red and while capsule out, "c'mon out, Steelix!"

"A wha--?" Dixie started, shocked as she had just grabbed one of her own PokéBall capsules and proceeded to dropping it in shock when she had heard what it was that was going to be the first Pokémon that her own would be up against. Opening upon hitting the ground, Zalaras had shaken himself after being released and gave Dixie a rather unamused look for keeping him in there for a long time.

Looking out to the field, Zalaras' expression immediately turned to that of shock just like his trainer's. Swallowing his uneasiness, the small golden lizard ran out onto the arena and stared up to the giant metallic snake as he heard the familiar robotic voice of his trainer's PokéDex.

_'__Steelix, the Iron Snake Pokémon.__Its body has been compressed deep under the ground. As a result, it is even harder than a diamond.'_ Hearing that from Dexter, Dixie flinched and then pocketed the red device and then looked to her starter.

"Don't allow for that to intimidate you, Zal! Just remember that you're the one with the type advantage, yeah!" Dixie shouted, hoping for this to up her Pokémon's confidence levels to rise from her words.

Throwing a small clawed hand into the air to signal that he acknowledged what it was his trainer had said to him, Zalaras nodded and then stared up to his large, steel-type opponent. Hiding the fact that he was rather intimidated by the creature's size, Zalaras' tail flame burned more violently and he held his ground, waiting for either his trainer to call out the first move or for the opponent to tell his Steelix to be making a move first. Anticipating the large steel beast's move, the small golden lizard quickly glanced around the arena to see if there was an area that he could run to so that he may have an advantage.

"Steelix! Start this off, use Iron Tail!" Forrest called out.

Obliging to his trainer's command, Steelix's tail began to glow white and it charged forwards. Nearing the small lizard, Steelix rose his tail high into the air and then started to slam it down towards its opponent.

"Zal! Hurry and dodge that!" Dixie instructed, clenching her fists more in nervousness than in excitement.

Acting quickly on Dixie's command, Zalaras hopped to the side and narrowly avoided the tail. He felt the ground beneath him shake and then looked back to where it was that Steelix had used its attack. The thick, steel tail was embedded in the ground somewhat with cracks deriving from where it had struck. The sight at the immense power that the steel beast possessed sent a shiver up the small lizard's spine and he quickly made his way away from the Steelix to give himself some distance between him and the giant steel-type.

"Crunch, Steelix! Go!"

Opening its maw, Steelix reared up and then dove down for Zalaras, getting ready to clamp down on the small fire-type.

"Ah – Retaliate! Use Ember!" Dixie shouted, near panicking from seeing the behemoth of a snake charge down at Zalaras with its Crunch attack.

Assuming a fetal position and trembling slightly, Zalaras rose his tail high into the air and waved it around to have the embers emit from his tail flame and hopefully make the Steelix back off a bit. However, that was not the case when the small lizard felt a strong shake from the ground around him and then found himself to be in a very dark, very small area with only the light from the flame on his tail. Waving his tail even more out of panic and fear, Zalaras' Ember attack became slightly more intensified and he felt the Steelix raise back up while emitting a metallic roar of pain.

Giving a slightly surprised look, Zalaras watched as the Steelix seemed to writhe in pain, its mouth opening and closing, as if trying to get a bad taste out of its mouth. Glancing back to his tail and then looking back to his trainer for a second, Zalaras awaited more commands from her. It looked as if the Steelix was already preoccupied with trying to get the burning sensation from its mouth.

"Looks like its your chance to get Zal to use a better attack against that Steelix, Dixie..." Jaxx commented, giving a rather interested look as he continued watching the battle between the small reptile and the large steel-type.

Dixie nodded when she heard Jaxx and then called back out to Zalaras, "all right! Get in there and use... uh... Flamethrower!"

Nodding again and rushing forwards a bit, Zalaras opened his mouth for the Flamethrower attack, though much to his and Dixie's dismay, a rather weak flame emitted from his mouth and hit Steelix. The steel snake looked down to Zalaras, disgruntled by the flames that licked at his body and then swiped Zalaras back with his mighty tail.

"Hah! _That's_ a Flamethrower?!" Forrest laughed as he watched Steelix holding the golden coloured Charmander back with his tail. He looked from the battle to Dixie and then furrowed his brow a bit. "Listen, this Gym and the challenges are for people that are serious. I can't believe that you even considered coming to here with a Charmander that hasn't even fully mastered a Flamethrower attack."

"Told you so..." Jaxx muttered underneath his breath and getting hit by Jakkaru after having said it. He growled slightly and then looked to her with a scowl, rubbing his arm where he had been struck.

"You should really just forfeit this match and come back when your Pokémon are stronger," Forrest continued, basically refusing to order his Steelix to be making anymore moves. The teen gave a shrug of his shoulders and then shook his head, "I mean... you really can't expect that weak of a Charmander to be actually able to take down a powerful Steelix such as the one that my older brother had entrusted to me."

"He's not all that weak..." Dixie said in a small voice while looking down.

Zalaras had snorted when he heard what Forrest had said about him and the flame on his tail burned more vigorously. He stepped forwards while clenching his little hands over what he could of Steelix's tail and then opened up his mouth once again. Mustering up all the power that his little body could, Zalaras shot a much more powerful Flamethrower up at the steel-type Pokémon, ceasing Forrest's chides and making him flinch somewhat.

After a couple of seconds, the Flamethrower attack fell and Zalaras shook slightly from using more power than what his body was used to. Steelix, on the other hand, was writhing more in pain after the attack and had snapped its tail into the Charmander, sending him flying into one of the arena's boulders before collapsing to the ground and trying to shake off the burning feeling that had now engulfed its body.

"Zalaras!" Dixie exclaimed, running over to where the small golden lizard had been hurdled and crouched by his side as she rose his PokéBall. She cradled him for a moment before calling him back to the capsule and then made her way back to where she was supposed to be while digging in her bag pouch for another occupied PokéBall that she could toss out for her second match-up.

"With what she has, there's no way she stands a chance..." Jaxx sighed, running a hand through his hair and frowning slightly. "Just a Sentret and a Charmander... there's no way that she could easily take this Gym...."

"Yeah... well, at least it's a good learning experience for her..." Jakkaru replied, looking from Dixie to the preteen male for a second.

Catching a glimpse of the PokéBall that Dixie had in her hand, Jaxx arched a brow and then moved a little closer to see if he could get a better look at it.

"Something up?" Jakkaru asked, just watching as Forrest had called back his Steelix from being burned by Zalaras' intense Flamethrower attack.

"Yeah... kind of... I guess..." Jaxx replied. "I dunno... just... Dixie had her Sentret in a PokéBall that had a small drawing of a hat on it. I could have sworn that that's not what I saw when I saw her pull that capsule out."

"I thought I was going to have to be a little serious for this battle.... But judging by your inexperienced and hot tempered Charmander, it seems that I'm going to have to town down what I send out into battle." Forrest said, putting Steelix's PokéBall capsule back onto his belt and then taking another one out and tossing it out into the arena.

Bursting from the capsule, a large, hovering boulder with arms was what was revealed from the white light that had engulfed it for a moment. As it had made its appearance, Dixie had taken her PokéDex out once again and flipped the device open, getting the information on the Geodude that was there.

'_Geodude, the Rock Pokémon. Geodude is often found on mountain roads with half of its body buried in the ground so it can observe mountain travelers.'_

"Weird..." Dixie commented, pocketing her Dex once again and then throwing out the four-pointed star marked PokéBall. "C'mon out, Riese!"

"... When'd she catch a new Pokémon?" Jaxx asked, turning his attention to Jakkaru. He saw her shrug her shoulders and then he turned back to Dixie and the Pokémon that she had sent out into the field to be battling against the Geodude. Immediately after seeing what it was that Dixie had send out, Jaxx rose a hand and placed it over his face while shaking his head in disbelief.

"You've _got_ to be kidding me..." Jaxx said, looking from the Caterpie to Dixie. There were two things that he couldn't believe. The first being the fact that she had _even_ caught the Pokémon and the second being the fact that she was actually using that weak of a Pokémon in a _Gym battle_.

"Hey... heh... w-who knows? She could come out lucky..." Jakkaru replied, trying to be at least somewhat supportive of the choice that Dixie had made.

"A Caterpie going up against a Geodude. Can't say I admire your inexperience..." Forrest sighed as he looked to the small green caterpillar Pokémon. "Geodude! Use Tackle!"

Darting forwards and into the Caterpie, Geodude sent the smaller Pokémon tumbling backwards. It hovered above it for a moment, seeing the little green bug squirm on its back as it tried to get back up on its feet to at least provide some form of retaliation.

"Riese, c'mon, you can do it! Get up and use String Shot! We're not a weak team, and I'm sure that you can show them that!" Dixie shouted, having become rather irritated by Forrest's jeers and the fact that it didn't seem that Jaxx was even providing any form of support for her.

Haphazardly getting back to her feet, the Caterpie looked up to the Geodude and then reared up on its back legs while shooting a thick series of webbing at it. The thread-like substance caught onto one of the Geodude's hands and began to wrap around it, making it immobile.

"Heh... perfect..." Forrest said, grinning to himself. "Geodude! Use that to your advantage and use Rock Polish, go!"

Having a grin stretch upon its rocky face, Geodude quickly used the webbed-up hand to polish its body and reduce the amount of drag that his body provided. The work was quick, and once the Geodude was finished, it looked as if he had come out of a rock tumbler.

"Dixie, why don't you just forfeit and come back when your Pokémon are actually more experienced, huh?" Jaxx asked, placing his hands into his pockets and looking to the Caterpie. "Look, there's going to be no way that you're even going to come out of this victorious... not with your Pokémon as inexperienced in battle as they are. We can always train your Pokémon up and come back to this at a later time."

Growling slightly, Dixie pursed her lips together and then clenched her fist over the four-point star marked capsule. Jaxx and Forrest were right... there was no way that she could possibly win this with the way that she had just waltzed in the Gym with no real experience in battling other than that brief battle that she had had with those two people that had wanted to trade for Zalaras.

"... Fine..." Dixie said after a while, raising Riese's PokéBall and withdrawing the small bug Pokémon back to it. She placed it back into her capsules pouch with the other two occupied PokéBalls and then turned her attention back to Forrest while offering a sheepish look.

"I guess I'll be returning when my Pokémon are more skilled and experienced..." Dixie told Forrest, her voice in a somewhat defeated tone.

"Another thing I'll be looking forward to, then..." Forrest replied, calling back his own Geodude. "May want to do something about calming down your Charmander, though. The fact that it acted out of anger towards Steelix was something that I had noticed. If that keeps up for too long, he may become harder to handle when you have it enter more battles later on."

"Oh... thank you for telling me that." Dixie looked back to her messenger bag and then wondered slightly about Zalaras for a moment before turning and making her way back towards both Jakkaru and Jaxx. She ignored the look on Jaxx's face and then just headed for the exit of the Gym, hearing both of the other preteens following after her.

As they made their way outside, Jaxx looked to Dixie again and then made a comment, "I really can't believe that you thought that your Caterpie would actually be something that could actually take on a Gym Leader. Dixie, you have more than I can possibly imagine at the moment that you really need to learn about battles. If you remember, you only got lucky against those two people with the Drowzee and Gloom because karma decided to repay you and had that Sentret follow us because you helped it out."

"Yeah... okay, you said something like that already..." Dixie said a little solemnly while kicking at a small rock.

"Look... if it'll help you out, I'm willing to give you a few practice battles before going back to the Gym to ask Forrest for a rematch," Jakkaru said, smiling a bit. "Besides, I think the Pokémon that I have would like to get out once in a while and have a few friendly matches with your own."

"Yeah... me too... if you want, that is..." Jaxx added, shoving his hands into his pockets and looking away. "I'm only with you two until I get back home to Fuchsia... and if getting your Pokémon more experienced for battling is what it's going to take so that you can get the Gym Challenge finished quicker, then so be it."

"... Thanks..." Dixie replied, smiling to the two of them.

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"Ugh... there hasn't been a sign of those kids at all today and this job's tiring me..." said Harold, sitting down at an empty booth and frowning slightly. He drew his hands over a saltshaker while looking over to Ruth as she took the time to adjust the blue-haired wig once again before sitting down at the booth as well. Her deep blue gaze stared at Harold rather intently and she then sighed a bit.

"I know that they've yet to make an appearance here yet... but just give it a little more time. I did tell them that we'd be seeing them again sometime... and I'm not going to allow for that Charmander to slip from our grasp like so many other alternately coloured Pokémon have already."

"But don't you think we'd have a better chance at running into those kids if we were to take disguises of a different... place...?" Harold questioned, running a hand through his hair and glancing back to the doors of the restaurant. The sky was darkening and it was going to be soon that there were going to be more people in for dinner.

"We probably could have done that... but I was going by what the travel guide said about this place." Ruth admitted, pulling out a pocket-sized book with the words, 'Live and Venture Pewter'. Fiddling with some of the pages of the book, Ruth sighed and then put it back into her apron pocket.

"Renee, Harrison... no time to be resting around anymore. We're going to be having more people show up in easily ten minutes or less..." came the manager's voice from the back.

Upon hearing that, both adults got up from the booth and made their way into the back as well to get prepped for the rest of the evening. Harold had a rather disgruntled expression on his face as he wiped his hands with the hand towel that had been tucked away in the pocket of his own apron. There was still a lot of things going through his mind... mainly about how he or Ruth would actually go about obtaining that girl's Charmander.

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"You sure about this place, Jakkaru...?" Jaxx asked, folding his arms over his chest as he stared up at the neon sign over the restaurant that he, Dixie and Jakkaru had stopped in front of. He was rather skeptical about going inside because of the appearance of the series of buildings that had lined the streets when they had made their way to this place in particular.

"Of course! C'mon! You're both with someone that's been here before!" Jakkaru laughed a bit and then turned to both of the younger kids with a grin on her face. "Besides... it's just a place to eat, and I'm sure that there's going to have to be something that we can do while we pass the time away. Dixie's Pokémon aren't going to be fully healed until tomorrow morning – so we'll just eat here and then return to the Pokémon Center to rest up ourselves and then get to training Dixie's Pokémon for battle!"

"It's also not like we're going to be staying here for that long of a time, either, Jaxx." Dixie piped up, looking to him and then staring for the door of the restaurant. Grabbing the handle of the door and then entering with both Jakkaru and Jaxx following after her, she paused for a brief moment upon stepping foot into the waiting area, allowing the scent of the place to consume her senses for that small amount of time.

Jakkaru had swiped a copy of the newspaper as she stepped in while nudging Dixie forwards a bit. The three preteens had been met by a waiter and were instantly taken to a booth for seating. The brunette merely ignored everything around her after the waiter had left when he had asked them what it was they had wanted for beverages. The older girl's eyes were caught on an article that she had caught a glimpse of when she had seen the small newspaper rack in the front.

"--karu... Jakkaru..." Dixie was pushing at her elbow somewhat, looking down at the newspaper as well. "What'cha reading?"

"Huh?" the brunette looked up from the article for a moment and then glanced from Jaxx to Dixie. "Oh... I was... there's an article in here that has to do with one of my mentors. Her name's Katy Rohme. She's a researcher from Goldenrod City back in Johto. I heard she was conducting some research studies at the lab located on Cinnabar Island."

"I've never heard of her..." Dixie said, looking up to the waiter and thanking him for the drinks when he came back around.

"Really? She's on news casts and talked about in both magazines and newspapers. It's because of her infatuation with alternately coloured Pokémon and studying them that she's actually well known. Look..." Jakkaru moved some things on the table and then spread the newspaper out, beginning to read; "'Katy Rohme's studies in alternately coloured Pokémon never cease to amaze us, and here in this article, there's more information that she's released from studies that she's conducted with the Pokémon she has both in her lab and ones that people have brought to her for observation.

'I don't believe the rubbish that's being put out about the odd colourings of Pokémon somehow being tied to the odd behaviours of them as well. I feel that the more aggressive behaviours that many different Pokémon have been expressing have had something to do with the drastic weather changes as it's disrupting all flow of all Pokémon that reside in the world.' Katy explained to us while giving a slight scoff.

'However... there was one thing that I was considering when I was conducting many of my studies, and that was that perhaps due to diets of Pokémon in certain areas, it may be adding different pigmentation to their fur or skin like the berries that grow on Pinkan Island.' There were obvious signs that Katy had indeed put a lot of thought into her studies, and she even continued into elaborating for us. 'The Pokémon that live on Pinkan Island, as I've been lucky enough to be able to actually get a few DNA samples from different species of the creatures that inhabit the island and getting to see it, it wasn't that much different than that of regularly coloured Pokémon of the same species.'

'Later, I decided to use by very own Eevee's DNA to see if there were any differences in genes or structure that made her look the way she does. After a few good weeks of researching and looking over notes from other biologists and scientists, it was apparent that it was a recessive gene that decided to make itself known in the colourations of the Pokémon. However, the alternately coloured Pokémon being more... common, so to speak, is be–' …." That was where Jakkaru stopped and looked up to both Dixie and Jaxx, a little confused.

"Something wrong?" Jaxx asked, looking over to the newspaper as well to see why it was that the brunette had stopped reading. He was actually hoping to hear more about that Katy Rohme and what it was that her studies had proven to her or what it was that her hypotheses were.

"... Someone clipped out the last bit here..." Jakkaru said, frowning and folding the newspaper back up.

"Ah... well... we can get a copy of that same one back at the Pokémon Center, can't we?" Dixie questioned, a little hopeful. She had also been wanting to hear more about what was in that article. As a girl that hungered for knowledge, she was rather disappointed that whoever decided to read that newspaper last had decided to clip a part from it.

"Hi there, can we take your order, please~?" came a female's voice, and all three youngsters looked up to see a light blue-haired woman with an order pad who was looking at them with a welcoming smile. The woman glanced around at the three of them and the smile on her face seemed to widen a bit. "Also, why don't you let your Pokémon out and let them eat, hm~? I sure that they could use a good meal after a long today."

"We dropped them off at the Pokémon Center," came the response from all three preteens in unison.

"Y-you don't say..." the waitress said, her expression falling. Quickly smiling once again, she tapped the pen to the order sheet and awaited for the teens to be placing their orders.

Getting the orders from the three kids, she walked to the back to place the order with a scowl upon her face.

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Lights lit the streets of Pewter City as the three kids made their way down along the paved walkways. Jaxx had a hand stuffed into his pocket, the other staying by the chain that carried his PokéBall capsules. Dixie trailed after him with her gaze turned upwards some and Jakkaru at her side. The trio seemed rather content, though Jakkaru had a rather pensive look on her face while she kept her pace alongside the younger girl.

"You've been pretty quiet, Jakkaru. Is there something bothering you?" Dixie asked, looking to the older girl and brushing a few stray locks of hair back behind her ear.

"Oh... I was just thinking about how odd it was in the restaurant this evening." Jakkaru replied, smoothing out her skirt a bit before continuing, "I mean... first a quarter of the article from the newspaper was missing, and then the two waiters that constantly tended to us had been asking questions about differently coloured Pokémon? I dunno... never had things like that happen before when I had gone there. Then again... it was about a year or two ago that I had actually gone."

"There was something that seemed rather familiar about those two waiters that seemed to be keeping an eye on us..." Jaxx added, merely glancing back to the two females. He shook his hair our of his face and then slowed his pace to be walking alongside the other two. Shrugging a bit and then turning his gaze to the two girls once again while continuing, "Dixie... did you notice anything familiar about the waitress that was there? I could have sworn that we had seen her before."

"Uh... well... no, not really..." Dixie replied, turning her head to look up to the older boy. "I mean... was there supposed to be something to notice that would be familiar?"

"Eh... well... it might have just been me..."

"Sorry..." Dixie said in a small voice, looking down and drawing her hands together. "I mean... they seemed really nice, that was all that I could really tell from those two."

"Alright... Well, let's just be sure to keep on out toes." Jaxx told Dixie in particular. "I'm still not all that sure about those two people that we ran into back in Viridian. Also... remember what it was that they had said to us before they had left."

"Right," Dixie looked thoughtful for a moment. "There's no way that I'm going to let those people have Zalaras. He's my friend after all!"


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

Almost a week had gone past since Dixie had had her first Gym battle with Forrest. Training had been rigorous because of Jaxx's harping and Jakkaru's determination to be getting Dixie's Pokémon experienced in battle. Zalaras hadn't been taking too kindly to what Jaxx had criticized... and as for Dixie's Caterpie, Riese, and her Sentret, Scout... well, those two had taken things said and played much better than the fire-lizard, that was for sure.

Due to the training that had been taking place over the past five and a half days, Riese had also evolved from it's Caterpie form all the way up to her Butterfree form. It had made the colourful trainer happy that the training had paid off enough for the small Pokémon to have evolved all the way to its final stage – despite what Jaxx had said about it, aside from Weedle, to evolve quicker than most Pokémon because it was weak in the first place.

"Do you guys think I'm able to go and battle Forrest again?" Dixie asked after training with Zalaras on the sixth day. Her hopes were riding high, and there was just no way that she could lose this time around... not with how hard her and her team had trained the past few days.

"I think that you'd be good to go..." Jakkaru responded, patting Ember on his head as the Charmeleon made his way back to his trainer. Looking back over to Jaxx, she smiled and then asked, "what do you think, Jaxx? Dixie and her team seem strong enough this time around to be going to battle Forrest?"

"Well..." Jaxx started, glancing over to Dixie as he held his tiny turtle Pokémon close to him. He was hesitant to answer the question as he mulled it over in his mind. There still remained the fact that he didn't really care for her all that much, however... he did have to admit that her strategies and tactics had improved over time and that she _just may_ have a chance at winning against Forrest this time around.

"'Well'? Well what, Jaxx?" Jakkaru pressed, noticing that Dixie seemed to be growing antsy as she awaited his response.

"Well... I think that we should have her and her Pokémon rest up and then go in tomorrow to test out how well the training paid off..." Jaxx said, semi avoiding the question.

"But that's not really answering the original question..." Jakkaru replied, glancing from Jaxx to Dixie.

Flinching a bit at that, Jaxx scoffed somewhat and then set Squirtle down before folding his arms over his chest. Sighing, Jaxx finally made a response, "I think that her Pokémon have gotten stronger, sure... but there still remains the fact that we won't really know how well she'll do against Forrest this time around. Gym Leaders switch their rosters around each battle... so we won't know till we go in."

Clapping her hands together and smiling, Dixie looked to Zalaras and skipped over to him. Kneeling down next to him, the dark-haired girl placed a hand on top of the golden lizard's head and laughed lightly.

"Don't worry, Zal... I'm sure that this time you'll definitely have Forrest and his team beat!"

"Char charmander char char!" Zalaras piped, pumping his small fists into the air and waving his tail in compliance with what his trainer said. Sporting a grin just like his trainer, he found himself to be leaning more into Dixie's hand.

"Heh... let's just hope that you can pull off some of the tactics that you came up with when battling against us..." Jaxx said, running a hand through his messy black hair and making his way over to Dixie with Squirtle happily trotting after him. Kneeling down next to Dixie and bringing a hand up to Zalaras as well, Jaxx gave a faint smile.

"At least she has a better chance this time instead of going in blindly like before." Jakkaru grinned as she said this and then returned Ember to his PokéBall.

"That... and Zal was able to get Flamethrower down!" Dixie beamed and then hugged the small golden lizard, making him scowl slightly. Smiling down to him, Dixie giggled a bit and then had her expression returned with that of happiness from Zalaras.

"Mander char char!" agreed the small fire-type.

"And it seems that both Scout and Riese seem to be learning fast, too!" Dixie added, making the Charmander's expression fall slightly. It seemed that over the time training together with Dixie and the other two humans, he had grown closer with the younger girl as she seemed highly devoted to him and her other team members.

"Yeah... and it seems that your Butterfree knows how to use it's Confusion attack really well, too..." Jaxx replied, looking down to his Squirtle. The blue-skinned reptile smiled back up at Jaxx and then made his way over to where both Dixie and the golden Charmander sat.

"A praise from you? That's new." Jakkaru teased, walking over and lightly slapping a hand against the younger boy's shoulder. Sporting a smirk, Jakkaru gave him a rather smug look at the fact that she had caught onto that while he flushed and then scowled.

Giggling, Dixie stood up, cradling Zalaras in her arms and then turned back towards the Pokémon Center. Looking back to the other two, she smiled and then suggested, "so... should we be getting back to the Pokémon Center to get rest for tomorrow, or what? C'mon! I'll race you all!" And with that, the darker-haired girl set down her Charmander companion and took off down the street with the golden lizard quickly trailing after her.

"Heh..." Jakkaru gave a slight laugh and then looked to Jaxx. "Well... she's definitely going to be beating us back if we don't get going now. Let's go!"

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"Looks like the kids have been trying long and hard to be getting that girl's team ready for a gym battle..." Ruth observed from a distance, being sure to stay relatively concealed with Harold at her side. A smile crept it's way upon her lips as she stood up straight from the bench and turned her gaze to her peer. "If they keep this up, we may just have to keep that Charmander to ourselves once we finally get it."

"Tell me, Ruth..." Harold started, drawing his hands together and looking back up at her. "Why do we have to follow these particular kids around anyways? I'm sure that there are other people out there with other, much more stronger alternately coloured Pokémon that we can get from them easier."

"You're kidding, right?" Ruth sounded a little shocked at the question that he had asked. "If we can get our hands on that Charmander, that means we don't have to go snooping where they're native to. Besides... you know what the chances are of finding a Pokémon like that. We were both lucky with our Gloom and Drowzee, but a Charmander? I'm definitely not going to be passing a chance like that up."

Nodding a bit, Harold looked down and then watched as his Murkrow scratch at the ground with his talons. The green-haired adult arched a brow to his Pokémon's actions and saw the crow-like Pokémon go at whatever caught its attention with its beak. Pulling up a small shiny bauble, the Murkrow hopped around a bit, happy with its find.

"Question for you, Harold..." Ruth said, placing her hand on her hips and looking down at him rather sternly. "Why is it that you're so concerned about things now? You never questioned doing things back when we were first getting started with this type of thing. What's happened with that, huh?"

Giving a shrug of his shoulders, Harold turned his attention back up to Ruth. "It's not like I'm really having any second thoughts about what we do, or anything. I was just curious – I mean, that girl with the Charmander is just a kid. I doubt seriously that that her Pokémon is going to be getting any stronger soon."

"While that's true, you've been keeping an eye on those kids just as long as I have this past week.... That little lizard was finally able to get its Flamethrower attack down. I don't know about you, but I'm actually seeing potential in that Pokémon other than just it's unique appearance."

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Touching her hand to the door's handle of the Pokémon center, Dixie grinned and then looked back to the other two that were running after her. Opening the door and stepping inside with Zalaras following closely after her, it was when the colourfully dressed girl looked up and saw someone there that she immediately froze in her tracks and kept eye contact with who it was that she spotted. The male looked back at her then had a rather smug expression replace his shocked look.

"Well, well... if it isn't little Dixie-Dix..." the boy remarked, making his way over to the girl and placing a hand on his hip with the same smirk still painted on his face. At the nickname, Dixie had instantaneously furrowed her brow and clenched her jaw somewhat. Taking note of that, the dirty blond-haired boy gave a chuckle and then looked past her to the other two that were making their way in.

"Heh, you're trailing behind me like always, aren't ya?" the boy sneered, noting the fact that Dixie seemed to be getting more infuriated with the words that he was saying.

"Hey! Who are you to talk to Dixie like that?" Jakkaru snapped, stepping out before Dixie defensively.

Glancing to the brunette, the boy gave a fake smile and gave his response, "I'm Ivan Allen from Saffron City." He turned his gaze back to Dixie and then gave and amused scoff. "This little girl hasn't been able to keep up with me since we were both attending school. I doubt seriously that she's a step ahead of me now."

"Bet you're just all talk..." Jaxx spoke up, brushing past Ivan and turning to look back at him with a relatively unimpressed look upon his face.

"Ooh, and who are you, huh?" Ivan asked, his voice starting to have that teasing ring to it. "Dixie, you havin' your boyfriend step in to defend you? It's almost as bad as when you had your older sister coming in to defend you back in Saffron.... You haven't changed one bit, have you?"

"He's not..." Dixie started, clenching her fists and feeling her face becoming hot. "He's _not_ my boyfriend!"

"Yeah, yeah... whatever you say, Dixie-Dix..." Ivan stepped a little more past Dixie and then turned his head to look at her. He looked into her angry expression and then noticed the Charmander by her side. Stepping to the side, Ivan crouched down and examined the small fire-type.

Growling to Ivan, Charmander snapped at him somewhat and clung to Dixie's pant leg with his brow furrowed. There was one thing that the small reptilian Pokémon picked up on, and that was the fact that his human definitely didn't seem to like whoever _this_ human was.

"Jeeze... even your Charmander looks weak. I bet I can beat that with the Pokémon _I_ started off with..." Ivan said, standing up straight.

Snapping a bit herself, Dixie restrained herself from reaching out and grabbing Ivan by the collar of his shirt and just yelled at him, "why don't you put your money where your mouth is, Ivan?!" Her green eyes burned with anger mixed with determination with wanting to prove to her rival that she wasn't trailing behind him.

"Suit yourself, Paintbrush. Just don't cry when your Pokémon get hurt because they're under-trained because their trainer is below par."

"She's been training really hard, I'll have you know!" Jakkaru said, getting heated up as well.

"You seem like a good friend to little Dixie here, Brown..." Ivan said, looking to Jakkaru and giving a shrug of his shoulders. He gave her an unamused look and then turned away from her, "but why don't you let Dixie fight her own battles, whether verbal or not."

Dixie's gaze didn't waver as Ivan turned his attention back down to her. Giving a slightly satisfied smirk at that, Ivan continued, "besides... if people keep fighting her battles for her, little Dixie-Dix here is going to keep being the little weakling that she has been ever since growing up in Saffron City. The only ones of merit in that family are her parents and her older sister. Heh, I bet the youngest is even more pathe–"

"Shut _UP_!" Dixie shouted, stepping right in front of him and glaring at him, despite the fact that Zalaras had still been clinging to her pant leg. "Don't you dare talk about Layla as if you know who or how she is...."

"Ooh... looks like a struck a nerve..." the blond smirked. "And you know... any closer, and I could kiss ya. Not that I'd want to...."

At that, Jaxx found himself to have clenched both jaw and fist. Furrowing his brow a bit, the dark-haired male held his tongue and then looked to the younger girl.

Jerking her hands out in front of her, Dixie shoved Ivan back hard – hoping to at least knock him over. Simply laughing as he staggered backwards, Ivan still sported that mocking look upon his face. Regaining his composition, Ivan straightened out his blue jacket and then made his way for the door of the Pokémon Center, motioning for her to follow after him. "Ya want that battle, Dixie-Dix? Ya hurry up and ya get yourself out here."

"Don't tell me what to do..." Dixie growled, quickly making her way out of the Pokémon Center as well. The little fire-type reptile swiftly trailed after her, his expression just as twisted into that of a look of anger as his trainer's. Zalaras wasn't taking too kindly to this new face just talking down to someone he finally now saw as his friend – besides, it was bad enough that Jaxx seemed to make some sort of quip about or directed towards her when he found the opportunity to be doing so.

Sighing a bit and starting forwards himself, Jaxx lightly grabbed Dixie by the arm and gave her a stern look as she turned her head to meet his gaze. He wasn't intimidated by the look that she gave him. Understanding that she was rather peeved about the things that Ivan had said to her, Jaxx couldn't blame her for wanting to go out there and show the blond a 'good battle' to shut him up. However, he had to think about this rationally. Dixie had been training her Pokémon in preparation for battling Forrest once again, and her team needed rest.

"You really shouldn't go and enter a Pokémon battle just yet, Dixie..." Jaxx simply said to her.

"B-but... you heard him! I can't just ignore that..." Dixie replied, frowning a bit.

"Is it really ignoring if you just put off the battle for a different time?"

Hesitating a bit at that, Dixie looked down and then glanced over to Ivan who was standing at the doors with that smirk still upon his face. She clenched her jaw slightly and then gave a rather submissive response, "I guess not. How does having a battle tomorrow sound, Ivan...?"

"Tomorrow? Yeah right..." Ivan remarked, folding his arms over his chest. "Unlike you, I have badges to be winning from the other Gyms here in the Kanto region. If you're not up to battling right here and right now, it still just says to me how weak your Pokémon truly are."

"Would you just _shut_ your mouth already?" Jakkaru snarled, stepping out towards the Pokémon Center's doors and digging in her bag for her PokéBall capsules. Marching to the glass doors, she motioned and prodded Ivan out. Following after the two, Dixie, Zalaras and Jaxx wanted to see how exactly this would be going down. It wasn't like Jakkaru to be getting that angry... but it seemed that Ivan had just managed to push some of those buttons.

"Since Dixie's Pokémon _do_ need their rest, I'll battle you instead." Jakkaru announced, tossing one of her PokéBalls up and down in her hand. "You sure talk big, but you know what? I bet Jaxx is right... that you _are_ all talk, because since we haven't seen your battle style or how well you and your Pokémon work together, I highly doubt that you're anything worth my time."

"Tch, a girl like you shouldn't be saying anything.... Ya look more like a coordinator than an actual battling-type trainer."

"Oh yeah?"

Taking out a lavender badge case and holding it out in front of her, Jakkaru clicked it open and showed Ivan the three badges that were nestled within. A feeling of satisfaction washed over the brunette as she caught sight of the subtle flinch that Ivan gave off.

"Yeah, well..." Ivan started, trying to shrug off the fact that Jakkaru had three badges. "That does necessarily mean that you'll beat me. Ya probably got those badges because you were just lucky!"

"Hah, I'll let you see for yourself. Go Ember!" Jakkaru said, throwing out the PokéBall that she had in her hand. Bursting out in a flash of white, the Charmeleon stood with a smile upon his face and his tail wagging in a friendly fashion.

Rolling his eyes a bit, Ivan took a PokéBall from his belt and tossed it out. Before them all, a Bulbasaur stood pawing at the ground. It looked as if it was ready to go in and attack at anything. Catching sight of the Charmander, the grass-type looked up with piqued interest and then grinned, waving a vine to its friend that he had been raised with back in Pallet Town.

"Heh... looks like that's the Bulbasaur that was back at Professor Oak's lab when Jaxx and I were just getting Zal and Squirtle." Dixie remarked, folding her arms over her chest. She felt rather satisfied knowing that she was able to be getting her own starter Pokémon before Ivan had.

Giving a slight scoff, Ivan turned his attention back to Jakkaru and then jabbed a finger towards her. "Why don't we stop dilly dallying and hurry up and get to our battle, huh?"

"Impatient little..." Jakkaru started, furrowing her brow. She looked to Ember and then back to the Bulbasaur that was standing before them. Noting how the grass starter immediately changed its focus when she had said something, Jakkaru shouted out her first command, "all right, Ember! Let's start this off with a well aimed Slash attack!"

Rushing forwards, Ember brought his clawed hand back and ducked down, readying himself to strike the grass-type Pokémon.

"Restrain it with your Vine Whip, Bulbasaur!"

Leaping forwards and sending out the vines from its bulb, Bulbasaur wrapped the appendages around Ember, restraining it only slightly. The red-eyed creature was pushed back some as Ember continued to try and have his attack land.

"All right! Ember! Namesake, go!" Jakkaru grinned a bit as she saw how Bulbasaur had wrapped both of its vines around Ember's wrists. That was a mistake big time on Ivan's part – now Ember could easily go in and use a fire attack without worrying about Bulbasaur having enough time to move out of the way. She watched as Ember snapped his tail out in front of him and waved it around, having the flames from his tail lick off and catch onto the Bulbasaur.

Quickly retracting its vine, Bulbasaur staggered backwards and quickly shook its vines in the air to rid it of the burning feeling that coursed through. Bringing the vines to its mouth, the small grass-type quickly blew at them, trying to cool off the area where the Ember attack had gotten him.

"Bulbasaur, don't give in to the heat! Take it in and show that overgrown lizard your Razor Leaf!" Ivan commanded, his brow furrowing in determination.

Pulling its vines back into its bulb, the Bulbasaur leaped back a tad and then released a swirl of razor sharp leaves in Ember's direction. It seemed just as determined as his trainer did.

"Flamethrower! Burn those leaves before letting them get you!"

Ember opened his mouth at his trainer's command, letting loose a strong stream of fire that burned the leaves before even having a chance to hit and eventually making its way to the Bulbasaur. The Charmeleon stopped the attack after a few seconds, figuring that it would be good to do so. The grass-type before him had collapsed to the ground, its body burned and trembling slightly.

"Darn it..." Ivan muttered, holding up Bulbasaur's PokéBall and calling him back. He furrowed his brow and turned his grey gaze to where Jakkaru stood, watching as her Charmeleon ran back over to her and quickly fell into her embrace. Shaking the scene off, he took another PokéBall from his belt and threw it out, watching as the capsule released the next Pokémon.

Trilling as it was released, a Pidgeotto took to the air and then landed on the ground before them. It's expression looked rather fierce and a cocky look found its way back onto Ivan's face as he folded his arms over his chest.

Rolling her eyes at the blond's expression, Jakkaru returned Ember to his PokéBall and then took the other PokéBall that she had chosen from her bag. Releasing the Pokémon within, Jakkaru gave a pleased look. Whisper, her very own Pidgeotto, stood out before the one that Ivan has sent out and puffed out his chest before ruffling his feathers to get ready for whatever it was that his trainer had called him out for.

"Start the battle, Pidgeotto! Whip up a strong Gust attack now!"

Flapping its wings rapidly and trilling all the same, Ivan's Pidgeotto sent powerful gusts in Whisper's direction. The bigger of the two fowl looked a tad disgruntled, though held his ground rather well and made sure to keep his senses focused so that he could hear Jakkaru's commands over the rush of the wind that whipped past his ears.

"Tear through that Gust, Whisper!" Jakkaru started, furrowing her brow slightly. "Use Aerial Ace!"

Taking off from the ground, Whisper silently tore through the air and aimed himself for the opposing Pidgeotto. White streaks forming over his beak and head as he neared, Whisper quickly pivoted himself upwards and struck. Staying airbourne, Whisper looked back as the other fell from the sky and landed on the ground.

Pushing itself back up and glaring up, the Pidgeotto kicked back up and flapped its wings to get back into the air. It's gaze stayed locked on Whisper as it stayed level with its opponent.

"That's it, Pidgeotto!" Ivan cheered, clenching a fist and grinning. "Let's show them your Wing Attack!"

Darting forwards, Pidgeotto obliged to the command, flying towards Whisper at a fast rate.

"Counter it with Quick Attack!"

Nodding to his trainer, Whisper flew forwards to meet with its opponent. Whisper's beak met with the other Pidgeotto's chest, though its wings had clipped Whisper pretty good at the same time. Faltering in the air a bit, Whisper struggled some to keep himself airbourne... though it seemed that his opponent wasn't so fortunate. The other fowl had fallen from the air once again and lay on the ground, panting.

"Whisper, return." Jakkaru said, holding up her Pokémon's PokéBall and calling him back in a beam of red light. Turning her gaze over to Ivan, Jakkaru minimized the ball capsule and then put her hands on her hips as she saw him call his Pidgeotto back to its own capsule.

"... Good... battle..." Ivan hesitantly said, putting his Pokémon's capsule back onto his belt. He had a rather let down expression on his face for a moment before walking back towards the Pokémon Center a little bit before pausing and looking to Jakkaru.

"Yeah... I would say the same if you weren't such a jerk..." Jakkaru replied, folding her arms over her chest. "I'm sure that this little battle can be a lesson to you, yeah? Don't got spouting stuff when you don't have the force to back it up properly. Now apologize to Dixie." Pointing a finger to the younger girl, Jakkaru gave Ivan a stern look and waited.

"You're kidding, right...?" Ivan asked, looking over to his rival. "Listen, just cos you beat me in a battle doesn't mean I have to do as you say. When I feel that Dixie deserves an apology, she'll be getting on. In the meantime..." Ivan started back towards the Center. "I'm going to be getting my Pokémon rested up, and I'm going to be going on my _merry_ way to Cerulean City to earn my next badge."

"Y-you mean... you already got the Boulder Badge from Forrest...?" Dixie asked, sounding a little more than just defeated.

Looking back to Dixie, Ivan smirked and ran his thumb across his nose. "That's right! Bulbasaur and my Mankey helped me win over at the Pewter City Gym. Judging by your surprise, I'm guessing that you haven't even beaten him yet. How long has it been since you've been here, eh? Bet it's been a longer amount of time than myself."

"Well... I..." Dixie started, fidgeting somewhat.

"What's the big deal if she has?" Jaxx asked, stepping towards Ivan a bit. "Bet she still knows more than you ever will if you lost that easily against Jakkaru – and she's not even a Gym Leader."

"So? Forrest is just weak... his brother should have never passed the Gym down to him."

"Your arrogance is irritating..." Jaxx growled, clenching a fist. "Or perhaps you're just too naïve to realize that Gym Leaders all have different teams of different levels and such for different trainers that approach their Gym to challenge them."

"Jaxx, don't fight with him..." Dixie said, furrowing her brow slightly and then turning her attention back to Ivan. "He's still just the same jerk from Saffron who thinks he knows everything. He'll be worth our time when he actually _learns_ something other than just 'Pokémon can fight'."

"Watch it, Dixie." Ivan snapped. He looked back to Jakkaru for a moment before turning his attention back to Jaxx and then finally having it linger on the younger female that was there. "We'll just see who knows more. For now, I'd really like to get more ahead in the game than waste my time with a little girl who's Pokémon aren't up for a little challenge at the moment."

Turning, Ivan made his was back over to the Pokémon Center and then went inside, the other three and Zalaras looking after him. Dixie gave a sigh to calm herself from the anger that bubbled up from that little 'talk' with Ivan and then looked up to Jaxx. His gaze met hers and he just shrugged a bit before she turned her head to look over at Jakkaru.

"Thanks... both of you..." Dixie said, drawing her hands together and tapping her fingers together.

"How the heck do you know such a jerk-face like that?" Jakkaru asked, walking over to where Jaxx and Dixie stood.

"Well..." Dixie started, not really knowing how to start off. Taking in a breath, she motioned for Zalaras that she was going to start walking and then made her way back over to the Center. "I'll tell you both inside."

Nodding to her, the four beings made their way back into the Pokémon Center and kept their distance from Ivan (luckily for them, they were sitting at opposite sides of the building). Dixie and Jakkaru gave their Pokémon to Nurse Joy and then found a place to sit, Zalaras being the only Pokémon of Dixie's that had really stayed with the group.

"So... about you and Ivan...?" Jaxx asked, looking to Dixie, sitting in a chair opposite of her.

She stayed silent for a few seconds and then looked down to the tiled floor. Pursing her lips together, Dixie hesitated and then glanced back up to her friends. Deciding to start, she gave another sigh and then kept her voice at a slightly quietly level than normal, "well... you both probably picked up on it... but we're both from Saffron City.... We were both enrolled in the same school program, or whatever you really want to call it."

She paused for a moment and then fiddled with the hem of her shirt before continuing, "I was hoping that I could become friends with him at first, honestly. We were both... six? About that...." Pausing again, Dixie gave a forced laugh and then entwined her fingers together. "I guess he just wasn't into my cheerful way and attitude, because shortly after expressing my want to be his friend and having my personality show through, he rejected it – and soon after that, I became his personal target...."

Shrugging a bit, Dixie leaned back in her chair and then looked to Jaxx and Jakkaru. "But you know... I didn't really care after a while because I made friends with a being that I put a lot of my trust into."

A smile found its way onto Dixie's face and Jaxx arched a brow. He thought back for a moment before Jakkaru could speak up and asked, "do you mean that Smeargul that you talked about back at Professor Oak's?"

"Yup!" Dixie chirped. "Arty and I became fast friends because we both liked painting and making new things.... Hee... I kind of miss him. Trixie never gave me a chance to say goodbye to him when we left Saffron for her to be getting her own starter Pokémon and for me to be living with my Aunt Sicily until I became of age to get my own."

"Heh... you really _do_ just like befriending things, huh?" Jaxx said, a little amused by the thought of a young Dixie just befriending a Smeargul because of the fact that the both of them were colourful beings and liked to paint.

"Why not, it's seemed to have worked for her so far the whole time that we've been with her." Jakkaru replied, smiling a bit. She turned her gaze over to Zalaras, who was curled up against Dixie, and motioned over to him. "I mean... even Zalaras has finally come to listening to Dixie better than he had been when I first met you guys.... I doubt seriously it's because he just wanted to." This was when Jakkaru turned her attention to Jaxx and gave him a rather sly look.

Flinching a bit at that, Jaxx tinged slightly and folded his arms over his chest with a scowl. He knew _exactly_ why it was that she had given that look to him in the first place. Despite the fact that he and Dixie seemed to have a rather rough start to things, he seemed to be in more acceptance to the girl's behaviours and attitude than he had been before.

"A-anyways..." Jaxx coughed, hoping that the blush had cleared from his face when he had spoken up. "Dixie... do you have any tactics that you plan on using against Forrest for tomorrow?"

Nodding, Dixie grinned and then replied, "of course!"

"What are they?"

"You'll just have to wait and see for yourself!" Dixie giggled and then pet Zalaras affectionately, eagerly awaiting for the hours to pass on by from now to the next day.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

Opening the doors to the gym once again, the three preteens stood within the doorway and then made their way into the dark building. The lights turned on as the sensors picked up o the newcomers to the gym and Forrest stood at his end of the gym, happily tending to one of the rock-type Pokémon that was there. He had paused in what he was doing as the main lights overhead came on and he stood up to face whoever was there. Giving a knowing smile he welcomed the three young trainers back into the arena.

"Welcome back to the Pewter City Gym..." Forrest said, looking to the youngest dark-haired girl in particular. "Dixie, wasn't it? It's been at least a week since the first time you stepped foot in here and challenged me. I certainly hope that you and your team have been practicing hard enough to take on the Pokémon I have."

"You bet!" Dixie chirped back to Forrest, smiling a bit. "I bet my team and I can definitely beat you this time around!"

"Mm... we'll be seeing about that." Forrest replied, placing a hand upon the head of the Pokémon that was next to him.

Shifting her attention to it, Dixie lit up for a moment and then whipped out her PokéDex. The Pokémon that was standing next to Forrest was one that she had never seen up close before. Looking down to her Dex, it gave her the information of the Pokémon that it was aimed at, _'Nosepass, the Compass Pokémon. Nosepass had been said to be completely unmoving, with its magnetic nose pointed due north. However, close observation has revealed that the Pokémon actually moves by a little over 3/8 of an inch every year.'_

"Huh... most likely not going to be one of the Pokémon he's going to be using against me..." Dixie mused, closing her PokéDex and then pocketing it while turning her head to be looking up to Forrest. She glanced around the gym for a moment and then pulled out a PokéBall from her messenger bag.

"So, is this battle going to be like last time? A two-on-two singles battle?" Dixie questioned, tossing the PokéBall up and down in her hand as she awaited an answer from Forrest.

Nodding to her, Forrest confirmed the question. "Yep, it'll be the same as when you were here before." Bringing out a PokéBall from where they were on his belt, Forrest expanded it and held it out. Glancing over in the direction of where the bell was, the Gym Leader shrugged off the fact that there was no referee once again and then turned his attention back onto Dixie.

"Alright... so are you ready for the battle to start?" Forrest asked, continuing to hold his PokéBall out.

"Ready as I'll ever be!" Dixie replied, grinning from ear to ear and gripping the PokéBall that she had a little more tightly.

"Then let the match..." Forrest started, throwing out his own ball capsule. "Begin!"

Before Dixie, a purple bat Pokémon with a sinister look on it's face flitted about the air for a moment and Dixie throw out her own PokéBall. The dark-haired girl quickly whipped out her PokéDex again as her own Pokémon, Riese, burst out onto the field. Pointing the scanner towards the bat-like Pokémon and got it's information: _'Crobat, the Bat Pokémon. __Crobat is the evolved form of __Golbat__. With its two additional wings, Crobat is able to fly much faster than Golbat.'_

"Nn... I thought that this was supposed to be a rock-type gym..." Dixie muttered, pocketing the PokéDex and then looking out onto the field to her Butterfree and then to the Crobat that looked to its opponent. The two flying creatures evaluated one another, waiting for either one of their trainers to be telling them what attack to be using first.

"Crobat, start off the match!" Forrest finally called out, waving an arm outwards to motion his Crobat to attack. "Use your Air Cutter!"

Quickly flapping its wings in compliance to its trainer's wishes, the Crobat sent strong gusts of winds in Riese's direction, blowing her back a bit. The Butterfree struggled to stay in place in the air, though didn't have much luck. Her delicate wings pounded the air, trying to keep her stabilized, though such was not her luck once the Air Cutter picked up and sliced through the air and into her. As the sharp bursts of air hit her, Riese fell back more with a slight wail, as the attack was of a type that she was weak against.

"Fight back, Riese!" Dixie called out, not exactly liking seeing her Pokémon get hurt by the Crobat's attack. "Hurry and use Poison Powder!"

"Hah... useless..." Forrest commented as Riese flapped her wings at a high speed and released the toxic spores that resided on her wings out onto the field and towards her opponent. The noxious cloud engulfed the Crobat and Dixie pumped a fist into the air.

"All right! We have the battle now no doubt!" Dixie said, grinning even more widely. As she kept her eyes glued onto the battle that was happening before her, the young girl's grin immediately disappeared and a look of shock appeared on her face. "Wh-what? Why isn't Poison Powder doing anything to it?"

"Don't you know?" Forrest asked, folding his arms over his chest and tilting his head in a rather cocky fashion. "Poison-type Pokémon aren't affected by attacks and moves that are poison-based. Your Butterfree's Poison Powder was a wasted effort. Crobat! Go in and use Mean Look!"

Tearing through the poisonous cloud, Crobat appeared in front of Riese and had its eyes glow an eerie red colour. Soon that colour surrounded Riese and made her tremble for a brief moment. Looking up to her Pokémon with heavy concern, Dixie brought out her PokéDex once again and hoped that it may be able to provide with some answers as to what Mean Look did.

_'Mean Look; Mean Look is an attack that prevents a Pokémon from switching out or running away during battle unless the Pokémon that used it is called back or runs away.'_

"Oh... no..." Dixie started, furrowing her brow out of worry before pocketing her Dex and looking back out to the arena. Now knowing that she couldn't call back Riese until she either got knocked out or was able to knock out the Crobat was something that Dixie mulled over in her mind. This was one of the things that she hadn't planned happening in the scenarios for the tactics that had planned to use against Forrest.

Taking in a breath and trying to remain calm about the situation, Dixie looked back up to Riese and then called out the next attack, "all right, Riese! If Poison Powder isn't going to work, then why don't we take a different approach and use Sleep Powder!"

Nodding and then flying up overhead, Riese spread a light cloud of the sleep inducing spores over the field. The Crobat's focus was kept up on the Butterfree as she did so.

"Crobat, send it ba–"

"Now quick! Use Gust and send it into that Crobat before it can do anything!" Dixie shouted quickly before Forrest could tell his Crobat to be doing anything.

Furrowing her brow and flapping her wings even faster, Riese sent the Sleep Powder spores down into the Crobat as both trainer and Pokémon were stunned by the sudden combination of attacks that Dixie had just commanded the Butterfree to be doing. As the Sleep Powder started to reach Crobat, the bat-like Pokémon started to waver in the air and his eyes grew heavy.

"Crobat! Before you go down! Use Air Slash!" Forrest shouted, hoping that his Pokémon would be able to react accordingly.

Giving a tired cry, Crobat, lifted his wings lazily and then moved them forwards with no real power behind them. With the Butterfree keeping her Gust attack strong and continuously blowing the powder in his direction, the Crobat soon closed his eyes and plummeted to the ground in a slumber. Upon seeing that, Riese ceased all of her attacks and then fluttered to Dixie happily, cooing to her trainer as she did.

"Yay! You did it Riese!" Dixie cheered, raising her hands up to the Butterfree while giving a light laugh. "You were able to send that big bat to sleep! Hah, I'm so proud of you, Riese. Good job!"

The Butterfree fluttered happily around Dixie for a moment as Forrest returned the Crobat back to its ball capsule and gave a slight smile. He recognized that Pokémon to be that Caterpie that Dixie had sent out before. It seemed that both girl and Pokémon had done a lot of work with one another during the week that they hadn't come back to the Gym. It was certainly something to be proud of... but that being the case, it was time to get a little more serious. Taking another capsule from his belt and expanding it, Forrest hesitated for a moment before throwing the PokéBall out.

A metallic cry echoed throughout the building as that familiar Steelix was released. Dixie and Riese both stared up at it – Dixie a little more calmer about seeing the huge behemoth than her partner was. Riese flitted from her trainer's side and then back out onto the arena. Shaking her head a bit, Dixie rose Riese's PokéBall and called back the Butterfree now that she was able to because Crobat was no longer her opponent.

"Sorry girl... this battle's not gonna be yours..." Dixie said as she looked back to the Butterfree's PokéBall and then minimized it. Placing it back into her messenger bag and then pulling out another PokéBall, Dixie smirked a bit and then threw the capsule out. Zalaras appeared before the great Iron Snake Pokémon and then clenched his little hands into fists, ready for the battle that was about to begin.

"Using that Charmander again?" Forrest wondered aloud, looking down to the golden lizard. He noted it's determined facial expression and then turned his attention up to Steelix. Giving a faint smile, Forrest called out to his Steelix to starting off the battle, "Steelix! Rush in and give that Charmander your Iron Tail!"

"Using the same first move as last time...?" Dixie asked, not exactly addressing anyone in particular as she watched the Steelix's tail grow white. Zalaras stood at the ready, anticipating the Steelix's moves. There was no way that he was going to let Dixie down – not with all the training that they had done over the week.

The metallic cry rang out once again and Steelix charged for Zalaras, his tail up and ready to strike.

"Zalaras, dodge it at the last second and use Smokescreen to give yourself cover!" Dixie shouted, hoping that this tactic would work.

Steelix slammed his tail down, hoping to get the small Charmander in the process. However, much like last time, Zalaras leaped out of the way, having the iron snake's tail smash into the ground. It was still rather intimidating to see those small fissures and cracks form in the ground by the sheer power that Steelix boasted. Looking at that for a split second, Zalaras immediately turned his attention back to what he was told to do and then opened his mouth. A cloud of smoke burst from his open mouth and rose up over him, providing the covering that was called for.

"Nn... Steelix, do your best to just bide your time! Wait till it attacks to attack back!" Forrest called out, a little wary now that the Smokescreen attack had obscured both his and his Pokémon's vision of seeing the golden lizard.

Tensing as the smoke billowed across the arena, Dixie still kept her eyes glued to where she saw Zalaras last, hoping that this tactic that she had formed would work. She took in deep breaths, pushing down her anticipation and trying to keep calm about what was going on at the moment.

The Steelix looked around for a moment and then the ground shook as it shifted to get a better view of the things around.

"Now, Zalaras! Flamethrower!" Dixie yelled.

Through the smoke, a plume of fire shot out and towards the the Steelix. The metallic beast's eyes widened in shock, and even Forrest seemed a little stunned that Zalaras was actually able to be using the Flamethrower without it being that weak little stream that it was last time. The teen Gym Leader gave a wince as Steelix cried out in pain and thrashed about, trying to rid his body of the burning sensation that spread through his body.

"Retaliate! Put that fire out and use Sandstorm!" Forrest shouted to Steelix.

Clenching his mighty jaw and taking in the pain, Steelix looked down to the cloud that obscured Zalaras and then started to twist parts of his body. The ground around then kicked up and a sandstorm started to whip up within the building. It was weaker than most, but it still made Dixie, Jaxx and Jakkaru raise their arms to shield their eyes from the sand and dirt particles.

The smoke cleared a bit as Steelix continued with his attack. Luckily for both Dixie and Zalaras, the Steelix couldn't keep up the attack for that long without making its burns hurt a little more than they had been. Zalaras had curled himself over his tail flame as the Sandstorm brewed and then cautiously stood up, making sure that he didn't act too soon.

Looking down at the Charmander, the Steelix narrowed his bronze gaze and then gave a slight snarl. It was obviously irritated by the small Pokémon as he had been able to deal quite a bit of damage to the Steelix's iron body. Giving a slight snort, Steelix shifted and curled around Zalaras, keeping him enclosed.

"Steelix, what are you doing?" Forrest questioned, a little uneasy about the giant iron snake acting on its own instead of waiting for direction. Watching the Steelix more carefully before calling out his next attack, Forrest observed its movements and then its facial expression to see if he could make out the thoughts that were going though its head.

"This is perfect..." Dixie said to herself with a slight smile as she saw how the two Pokémon were in the arena. She glanced over to Forrest for a moment, not noticing how uneasy he seemed and then shouted out to Zalaras, "use your Ember, Zal!"

Increasing the size of the flame on his tail, Zalaras waved his tail vigorously. The flames flew off and around the area that Zalaras was enclosed in. Uncertainty rose within the Steelix as it looked around at the small embers that started to land on him from the small golden lizard and then quickly withdrew himself from being curled around Zalaras.

"Endure the Ember and go in for a Crunch attack!" Forrest yelled after some time, now a little calmer about commanding Steelix to do something. He shifted his gaze to the demolished part of the gym for a short moment and then looked back out to the two Pokémon in the arena.

Opening his mouth, Steelix rose up higher, readying himself to strike down at the golden lizard. It glared down at him before starting off – he wasn't exactly pleased by the defiant look that the Charmander was giving him.

"Now's your chance Zalaras!" Dixie shouted as the iron behemoth rushed in for the attack. "Go in and do what we planned!"

Bracing himself, Zalaras furrowed his brow and then opened his own mouth. He mustered up a bit of power that he had and then let loose another Flamethrower attack, aiming it straight for the inside of Steelix's open maw. The flames licked the inside of his mouth, spreading and enveloping the Steelix's mouth.

Immediately after receiving the attack, Steelix reared up, crying back out in pain and rattling the inside of the building. The lights shook and made the inside of the Gym look as if it were swaying. Shortly after, the Steelix moved back, writhing on the ground in pain like before when Zalaras had used Flamethrower for the first time.

"Steelix..." Forrest murmured, frowning as he watched the Pokémon try and rid himself of the burning pain that coursed through his mouth and head at the moment. Raising the PokéBall capsule, Forrest called back the Steelix to it and then started to walk across the arena with a warm smile on his face.

"We won...?" Dixie asked, obviously stunned. Her shocked expression quickly changed from that to a happy one and then looked to Zalaras, who was running back over to her with a sense of triumph in his expression.

"Yep..." Forrest replied, digging in his pocket and pulling out something. He kept his fist clenched around it and then waited till he was right in front of Dixie before holding it out to her and then having his smile widen a bit. "You know... I was very surprised when you had your Butterfree do what you asked it to do against Crobat.... And... I'm actually glad to see that you and your Charmander have improved over the course of time that you took to do training. I'm glad to give you this Boulder Badge in recognition that you have in fact defeated me of the Pewter City Gym."

"Oh... wow... I don't really know what to say..." Dixie admitted. "It's... this is just so cool." Holding out her hand, Dixie grinned and Forrest put the Boulder Badge in her palm. Giggling as she clutched her hand over the badge, the dark haired girl bounced on the balls of her feet and then stooped down, scooping up Zalaras in her arms and lifting him up high with a laugh.

"We did it, Zal! You, me and Riese!" Dixie happily said, spinning around once and then cradling Zalaras in her arms before turning to Jakkaru and Jaxx, holding the badge up in her hands with a proud grin on her face. Her expression was met by a smile from Jakkaru and a slightly amused look from Jaxx. Giving another slight laugh out of being excited, Dixie said to her friends, "I did it, guys! I got my first badge fair and square! It's all thanks to the both of you, too. So thanks!"

"Dixie... right?" Forrest started back up. The colourfully dressed girl pivoted on her heel and then looked up to Forrest with a quizzical look on her face. Even though there was still a rather approving look in Forrest's expression, his voice was rather stern, "just know that as you go on, gyms will be getting tougher. I'm also not sure if you've heard about certain things going on with Pokémon all around... but all of you..." Forrest looked up to both Jaxx and Jakkaru, "be careful on your journeys... and I wish all of you the best of luck."

Giving a slight nod, Dixie smiled back to Forrest and then gave a reply, "thank you, Forrest. It was a great experience to battle you. If I come back, I'll try coming back for a battle that's just for fun."

"Heh... sounds like a plan."

-------------------------------------------

"Hey Ruth... do you think it'd be a good idea now to be getting on our way to Cerulean City?" Harold asked, scratching at his Murkrow's breast. He looked to his partner who had been watching the battle between Dixie and Forrest through the shoddily repaired area of the demolished portion of the Pewter City Gym.

"Perhaps so... that's the closest gym from here..." Ruth replied, leaning up against a sturdy part of the building. She turned her attention to Meowth at her feet and then detached a PokéBall capsule from her belt, returning the feline Pokémon to it. Shortly after, Harold followed the example with his Murkrow, awaiting more information from Ruth since it has sounded like she had more to say than just that.

"Besides... it may provide a good chance to be looking for more Pokémon to expand our collection than just trailing on this Charmander like you had suggested once before...." Ruth turned her attention from Harold to the sky and then pushed herself from the building. Looking back to Harold for a moment, she started back down towards the pathways of Pewter City and then fell into thought.

Harold followed after, fumbling with the dark PokéBall capsule in his hands while watching Ruth to see if she had anymore to say.

"You know... with all the newscasts and reports of alternately coloured Pokémon being seen and whatnot, I believe that we could just give up on that Charmander for now and get to expanding our collection by looking in different areas..." Harold suggested, minimizing the PokéBall and attaching it to his belt.

"But even then, finding them is going to be a difficult task. Even if there are more showing up, that doesn't mean that they're suddenly going to be easier to find..." Ruth responded, bringing a hand to her chin and taking that into deeper thought. "However... as we know that the regions just crawl with trainers, breeders and coordinators of all types... we may find ourselves to be rather lucky in the near future if we do set something up that appeals to all types of trainers."

"The only question at the moment is _what_ can we be doing that would attract attention from other trainers..." Harold said, shoving his hands into his pockets and then kicking at a rock.

"I suppose that's one of the things that we'll have to be thinking about on our way to Cerulean." Ruth adjusted the bag that she had slung over her shoulder and continued along the pathway, Harold catching up to be beside her.

"Could always do what we did last time..." Harold said, shrugging his shoulders and looking ahead. "I mean... it worked quite effectively last time. With the Pokémon from the Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh regions and the other rarer finds that we have on us, there's no way that this'll fail – it didn't in the past."

"This is true..." Ruth replied, pausing and looking ahead, though not really focusing on anything in particular. "And Cerulean City is pretty much bound to have more of a population than this place, considering what goes on in that place...."

Nodding in agreement, Harold took a few extra steps further and then looked back to Ruth for split second. Turning his attention in the direction to the exit of the city and to the next route, Harold started for it, turning and walking backwards, watching Ruth and motioning for her to hurry up and follow him. His motion had caught her attention rather quickly and Ruth trotted up to her partner's side, still mulling over some things in her mind about what they should be doing about their initial plan.

"Do you think that trainers will be drawn in to take the offers that we put up?" Ruth asked after a moment, looking over to Harold, her greenish-blue eyes glinting in the sunlight.

"News of us has died down. It's been at least five years since the last things we've pulled. Not to mention the changes that we had specifically done so that people don't exactly recognize us," Harold responded, turning to be walking properly and bringing a hand up to his dark green hair. "Granted they're just a change of both hair style and colour, but it's worked so far – so I wouldn't worry about it so much...."

"That wasn't really my question..." Ruth said, giving Harold a slightly irritated look.

"Ah... sorry...." Rubbing at the back of his neck, Harold rose his blue gaze up to meet Ruth's for a moment and gave her a slightly apologetic look. Receiving a roll her her eyes to his look, Harold said something more, "you know... to answer your question.... I suppose we'll never know until we actually go out and try it out."

"Of course..." was all that Ruth said before silence fell between the duo and they were steadily making their way out of the city.

-------------------------------------------

"So amazing, and it's all thanks to the training that we did!" Dixie was saying, fawning over the Boulder Badge that she was holding in her hand. She grinned and looked back to both Jakkaru and Jaxx, the happiness portrayed in her facial expression seemingly unmeasurable. Holding the badge up high to have it catch the light from the sun, Dixie gripped the new, multicolour badge case that was in her other hand.

"You know... you bought that before leaving Pewter for a reason..." Jaxx said, getting a little tired of hearing Dixie's cheerful sayings and quips.

"Yeah, I know... but just... look! I mean... it's my first badge, it's awesome!" Dixie replied with that grin still upon her face, turning to look up at him and practically shoving the badge in his face. Jaxx had a rather disgruntled expression on his face as he stopped abruptly and placed a hand up over Dixie's and pushed her hand out from his line of sight.

"Uh huh... and you've been waxing poetic about it this whole time, Dixie..." came Jaxx's response as he let go of the younger girl's hand and then glanced over to Jakkaru for a moment. "Anyways... you should probably put that badge in the case you bought before you end up losing it – or worse, a Pidgey or a Spearow comes to make off with it just because it's shiny."

At that, Dixie's expression quickly became panicked for a moment and she fumbled with the badge case, putting the Boulder Badge in there nice and snug. Putting it in her messenger bag, she looked back up to Jaxx and noted his amused expression and then immediately narrowed her eyes at him for but a moment. The moment was cut short when Jakkaru made her way over and made a quip.

"You two really need to stop flirting~" this was said in a singsong and rather teasing manner as Jakkaru walked forwards, shifting the incubator in her arms and looking to both Dixie and Jaxx with a rather playfully smug expression. It was promptly met with scowls from Dixie and Jaxx as they hurried to walk ahead or beside the brunette.

"It's _not_ flirting..." replied Jaxx, a tad miffed by Jakkaru's comment.

"Whatever you say, Jaxx," Jakkaru laughed, cradling the incubator in her arms as the trio walked along the route that led from Pewter City to Mt. Moon. The trip was fairly silent save for the occasional bickering that arose between Dixie and Jaxx – though as they continued, it was merely to be expected of the two. Jakkaru didn't seem to mind any longer, and to her, as long as it wasn't as bad as when Dixie argued with Ivan, then everything would pretty much be A-OK.

"Chu pika pika kachu!" a series of chatters rang out that sounded rather winded and tired.

Looking around for the source of the noise, Jakkaru, Dixie and Jaxx had stopped, turning their heads to see if they could spot something. A few moments passed by, though a rustling sounded from the bushes and the three preteens immediately looked over to see a Pikachu jump from the foliage and up on Dixie. A small scream resonated from her mouth as the small electrical mouse frantically clung to her. The crackling sound of lightning could be heard from his cheeks as he got situated on the younger girl's shoulder and looked back in the direction in which he came.

"H-hey..." Dixie started, nearly stumbling backwards at how fast the Pikachu had made it's appearance. Looking a little closer to the Pikachu, the dark-haired youth noticed that there were some blood stains on his fur and that when he had jumped onto her, he had gotten blood stains on her purple shirt. Concern rising a bit, Dixie furrowed her brow and looked out in the direction that the Pikachu had come from as did both Jakkaru and Jaxx.

It took a few moments, though a man dressed in hiking gear and sporting a rather large build came out, looking rather peeved. His onyx gaze looked from the kids to the Pikachu that had perched himself upon Dixie's shoulder and then a slight laugh escaped his lips and the three younger trainers looked up to him rather quizzically.

"Thinkin' you can just use these kids as a somethin' tha' can protect you, eh?" The man's accent was thick and it was quite obvious that he intended no good to the Pikachu that Dixie had risen an arm up over defensively.

"Who are you?" Jakkaru asked, furrowing her brow slightly and stepping forwards some.

"None of yer business, kid.... But if ya wanna know somethin', then it's gonna be the fact that I'm the rightful owner to tha' Pikachu ova there," the man sneered, giving the Pikachu a glare. He took a step forwards and held his hand out to Dixie. In response, Dixie had backed up, slightly intimidated by the man's size and uneasy because of how the Pikachu was acting towards the man that had claimed to be its 'owner'.

"I-I don't believe y-you..." Dixie stuttered, backing up into Jaxx and having the Pikachu wobble a bit on her shoulder. Losing its balance, the Pikachu tumbled forwards and luckily for him, Dixie had held out her arms and quickly prevented him from falling any further. As she glanced down at it, she noticed that the rodent's tail had been damaged and looked as if something had torn a chunk of the tip of his tail right off.

So it seemed that _that_ was the source of the bleeding.

"Hand 'im ova!" bellowed the man, making Dixie flinch and back up more into Jaxx with uncertainty.

Noting her actions, Jaxx had started to wrap his arms around her protectively, though quickly caught on to what it was he was doing then sidestepped and put his arm out in front of Dixie and the Pikachu defensively. He glared up at the man, not happy with how his actions were effecting any of the beings that were there.

"Don't talk to her that way..." Jaxx growled, keeping his defiant gaze locked with the man's. "It's not like she did anything wrong."

"Boy, mind yer own damned business!" the man shouted, swinging his hand over and pushing Jaxx back into Dixie. The two kids toppled over, Dixie protecting the Pikachu with her body so that he didn't get anymore injured than he already was.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!" Jakkaru asked, getting more heated up than before. She hurried over to where Jaxx and Dixie were, helping them both up and brushing the dirt that clung to them off their shoulders and backs.

"Listen, ya kids jus' gimme the rodent and we'll all be good, alright?" The man looked from Jakkaru to the other two kids then finally back to the Pikachu in Dixie's grasp. When the Pikachu picked up on the man looking down at him, sparks flew from his cheeks a little more violently and he curled more in the younger girl's grasp, not wanting to get out of her arms.

"Dixie..." Jaxx said quietly, nudging her to grab her attention. Once she had turned her head to look at him, Jaxx continued, "just... hang onto the Pikachu and... start running...."

"What?" Dixie looked at him quizzically.

"Go!" Jaxx shouted, grabbing a PokéBall from his chain and pushing Dixie forwards down more along the route, stepping in front of the man as he heard Dixie start to tear down the pathway. Pressing the button in the center of the capsule, Jaxx expanded it and narrowed his eyes back up at the man. He honestly didn't really care about some of the things that were going on at the moment, though he knew if he were to do nothing, then Dixie would bark his head off later.

"Boy, get out of my way!" snarled the man, looking at the PokéBall that Jaxx held.

"I don't think so..." Jaxx replied, glancing over to Jakkaru, hoping that she'd catch the hint to be helping him out.

Going over next to him, Jakkaru shifted the incubator to be cradling it in one arm and then dug in her bag with her other hand, pulling out a PokéBall as well. Both preteens stood at the ready, ball capsules expanded and aching to be thrown to release the Pokémon that were contained within.

"Tch... if it's a double battle that ya brats are gonna be wantin', then fine..." the man scoffed, drawing two PokéBalls from the belt that was slung across his hip. Expanding them, he threw them both out. Bursting out before the two preteens a Vaporeon and a Sandslash stood. The water Pokémon growled, lowering its head and swishing its tail fiercely. The Sandslash, on the other hand, looked up to the two kids and had beat its claws against the ground's surface rather rapidly.

Taking in the two Pokémon's appearance, Jaxx and Jakkaru threw out their own capsules.

"Fang, go!"

"Come on out, Sparky!"

From Jaxx's PokéBall, the Growlithe burst out, giving a happy yip and then looking to the two other Pokémon. Beside Fang, Sparky stood, shaking his yellow head and then looking up to the man and then back to Jakkaru. He was a little confused by what was going on, though quickly shrugged it off and assumed a battle ready stance.

-------------------------------------------

Panting and gaining a stitch in her side from running a rather far distance, Dixie tripped over her own feet after a while, the Pikachu flying from her hold and she landing face-down against the ground. She stayed like that for a moment, breathing heavily and then pushing herself up. Turning her gaze upwards, Dixie looked to the Pikachu. He was standing a distance away in a stance that said that he was prepared to take off at any time.

Gulping and still trying to recover her breath, Dixie pushed herself up into a sitting position and then said in a soft tone, "it's alright. I'm not going to hurt you...." The Pikachu tilted his head at her, his cheeks sparking out of being cautious.

"If..." Dixie started, still breathing rather heavily. "If you want to run away and be free... go... I'm not going to stop you, all right?"

"Chu pikachu pi!" With that, the Pikachu bounded off and into the grass that lined the route. Dixie simply watched after him, sighing a bit and then crawling on her hands and knees over to a tree and sitting up against it. She had made up in her mind that she was going to wait till she had recovered enough of her stamina or until Jaxx and Jakkaru had come back from dealing with that man.

-------------------------------------------

"Vaporeon! Start this'un off! Take that brat's Growlite outta tha picture! Use Water Gun!" the man commanded, looking to his water-type.

Vaporeon growled slightly and then opened its mouth, firing a strong stream of water at Fang. The canine looked relatively concerned about the attack and then shifted on his feet slightly, hoping that his trainer's command would be shouted out soon.

"Sparky! Go out in front of Fang and use Thundershock!" Jakkaru yelled, noticing that Jaxx seemed to have been hesitating for some reason. After her command, Sparky quickly darted out in front of Fang and then released a powerful jolt of electricity from the sacs at his cheeks. The electricity contacted the water and rushed for the Vaporeon, electrocuting the water-type where it stood and immediately ceasing her attack.

"Vaporeon!" the man shouted, obviously seeming concerned for his Pokémon. "Shake it off and go in for a Quick Attack! Sandslash, use Swift!"

Both Pokémon reacted accordingly to the commands that were given to the both of them. Vaporeon's body shook as she regained her composure and then darted forwards for her attack. Sandslash, on the other hand, opened his mouth and shot a collection of star-shaped small energy projectiles towards the two other Pokémon.

Vaporeon's Quick Attack made contact with Sparky and sent him rolling backwards and after a while, Sandslash's Swift attack hit both Growlithe and Sparky. Fang winced and gave a slight whine to the attacks that hit him and then shook his head, ridding himself of the smarting that resonated at the top of his head. Sparky staggered back up to his feet, giving a slight scoff and narrowing his dark blue eyes at the Vaporeon.

"Fang, focus on that Sandslash and rush in with a Flame Wheel!" Jaxx shouted, clenching his fists. In the back of his mind, he was hoping that Dixie had gotten relatively far away with the Pikachu and was still okay.

Barking in acknowledgment, Fang rushed forwards, his body becoming cloaked in fire as he ran. With all the force that he could muster, Fang leaped and tackled himself into the Sandslash before the man could command the Pokémon to be doing anything further.

Skidding back, Sandslash dug his claws into the ground and stopped himself. He staggered back up to his feet and then glared at Fang.

The group of Pokémon stood there after the attacks, seeming to have a stare down with one another. Things had come to a slight standstill – Pokémon on either side awaiting further attack commands from their respective trainers. Vaporeon's tail swished irritably, Sandslash flexed the muscles in his back, making the quills upon him stand up more. At the other side of the field, Sparky panted, his legs shaking somewhat from being worn out; Fang seemed to be fairing better than his rodent partner, though his mouth was curled up at the corners, his teeth bared and a snarl escaping his mouth.

"Fang!"

"Sparky!"

The shouts from Jaxx and Jakkaru were simultaneous, almost as if they knew that they were about to call out attacks right then and there.

"Sparky, go in and use Quick Attack!" Jakkaru continued, swinging her arm forwards in a motion to have Sparky hurry and use the attack.

"Use Helping Hand, boy!" Jaxx added to what he had to command.

Barking and yipping in rapid succession, Fang reared up several times, doing his best to cheer on Sparky so that he could perform the Quick Attack more efficiently. Sparky rushed forwards a little faster, slamming his body against the Vaporeon and being able to send the feline-like creature back some and into Sandslash. However, even though the two Pokémon took the hits, it seemed that they were no where close to being done in quite yet.

"Alright, Vaporeon, Sandslash..." the man started, a slight smirk on his face. "Team up with tha Helping Hand and Rollout combination!"

The Vaporeon gave a slight laugh – if one could call it that – and then yipped a couple of times, wagging her tail and cheering on the Sandslash as he curled himself tightly into a ball and spun at an incredible rate, barreling straight into Fang and Sparky. A deep trail was carved into the ground as Sandslash rolled into Sparky and Fang, sending the two back.

Sparky had been tossed up from the ground and had sailed into Jakkaru, making her stumble backwards and onto the ground. She had quickly wrapped her arms around her Pokémon, looking down at him with an apologetic look and then looking back up to the man with a glare.

Fang had skidded on his back past Jaxx's feet, a small whine being emitted as he looked back up to his trainer. Jaxx quickly went over and knelt by the fire-type's side, his brow furrowing in concern. He rose the PokéBall that was used to hold Fang and then returned him to the capsule. Jakkaru had done the same thing with Sparky and put the ball back into her bag.

"Tch... kids are always weak..." the man said with a hint of disgust to his voice. He called the Sandslash back to it's PokéBall and then returned Vaporeon to hers before starting off in a sprint down the trail that he saw Dixie run off to.

"Jaxx, we need to get to Dixie, and fast!" Jakkaru said, a little panicked.

"I know... but..." Jaxx started, looking back to the brunette and then just taking the initiative, pulling another ball capsule from the chain at his side. Throwing it out, he released Spearow and gave him the instructions, "go and find Dixie, make sure she's okay and make sure she knows that she's probably going to be caught if she's not still running!"

"Hey... that's a good idea..." Jakkaru commented, taking two PokéBalls from her bag and throwing them out as well. Both Pidgeotto and Fearow were released, the two of them taking to the skies with Jaxx's Spearow. Instructing them to do the same thing that Jaxx's Spearow was told, the three bird Pokémon took off. Holding her incubator close to her and looking over to Jaxx, the two preteens started down along the route path, not exactly pleased by the situation that was at hand.

-------------------------------------------

Taking in a breath, Dixie got up from her sitting position against the tree and then slung her bag up on her shoulder, looking back down the trail. Figuring that Jakkaru and Jaxx were still being held up by that weird man, Dixie started off back in the direction that she had come from, wondering what was going on and hoping that the two of them were okay.

Looking down at her shirt as she walked, the colourfully dressed girl frowned and then grabbed at her shirt so she could examine the blood stains a little more closely. Looked as if whenever she and the others were to be getting to the next town or city, then they'd have to see about getting to a laundromat.

Footsteps were heard and Dixie tore her attention away from the bloodstains to the sound, smiling as she heard them. She was about to say something before the smile on her face disappeared as quickly as it had come and her eyes widened. Standing there for a moment as that man neared her, the dark-haired girl pivoted on her heel and then took off down the rest of the route.

"Girl, get back ova 'ere and gimme back that damned Pikachu!" the man shouted, gaining on Dixie.

"No! Get away!" Dixie shouted back, cursing herself for never having been that great in P.E. when she used to be going to school. She knew that she was going to be caught, she knew that the man could easily outrun her. As she was thinking those things, it was almost as if it had been on cue that her arm got snagged and she was actually dragged up into the air. Dixie kicked her feet a bit, not really taking too kindly to the fact that this man – whoever he was – was merely holding her up with one arm and pretty much by her wrist.

The man looked her up and down and even checked her multicolour messenger bag. Disgruntled, the man tossed Dixie to the side as if she were a rag doll and growling a bit.

"O-ow ow ow..." Dixie repeated, sitting up and rubbing at her side. The young girl looked up to the man, drawing her brow together and then clumsily getting back up to her feet.

It was then when Jaxx's Spearow had spotted Dixie and then circled overhead before fluttering down and landing on her shoulder. It looked around for a moment, noticing that Dixie had her hand pressed up against her side as if she had been hurt and then shifted his gaze to the man that stood before her.

"Tell me where tha' Pikachu's at!" the man yelled, spit flying from his lips as he spoke.

"I-I don't know!" Dixie replied, taking a few uneasy steps backwards. She had noticed that Jaxx's Spearow had landed upon her shoulder, but she was more preoccupied with wanting not to get hurt again.

"Don't lie to me, girl! Yer tha one tha' made off with it, now tell me!"

"I told you I don't know! I-I let it go!" Dixie responded, taking a few more steps back. "A-and even if the Pikachu was still with me, I'd never give it back to you!"

"You _what_!?" the man bellowed, advancing on Dixie, red in the face out of fury.

Cawing, Spearow flew from Dixie's shoulder and then started clawing and pecking at the man, trying to keep him away from the preteen. It had worked for the most part – the man had brought his hands up to protect his face from Spearow's attacks and started swatting at him as if he were an annoying bug that had somehow managed to make themselves known.

In the process of attacking the man, Spearow looked to Dixie and then cawed again – this time a little more loudly.

Picking up on what it was that the Spearow was telling her to do, Dixie started down the path in a run, a slight limp to her gait. Each step she took, her side throbbed a little, but it wasn't so bad that she couldn't keep going. Dixie had to keep reminding herself that – though, again, she didn't really have that much time before she was grabbed again.

Looking back up, Dixie's gaze met with the man's and she flailed a little in his grasp, only making the man tighten his grip on her arm. The increased pressure to her arm made Dixie wince, though she refused to show the fact that it hurt in her facial expression. It failed, though – namely because clearly seen within her expression, she was scared.

"Now... _tell_ me _where_ tha' Pikachu is and everything will be alright – ya can pretend tha' this neva happened, got it?" the man said, a growl to his voice as he kept a firm hold of Dixie's arm.

"I already t-told you...." Dixie started, her voice shaking somewhat. "I-I don't have him... h-he ran off and int– owww!"

"I said 'don't lie'!" the man yelled.

"Hey!"

A rock flew and hit the man on his forehead – pretty hard, too. Dixie heard the 'clonk' as the rock had hit him. However, Dixie was more glad that the fact that the rock had hit him had caused him to let go of her arm almost instantly. He pressed his hand against his forehead, cursing loudly – not caring that Dixie was now running to her friends who had just showed up to where they were.

"Thought I said not to talk to her that way..." Jaxx said, his brow furrowed and another rock in his hand.

"Dammit, kids! Ya have to make this so much harder tha' it 'as ta be?" the man growled, rubbing at his forehead. "What's yer fascination with 'avin tha' Pikachu free, eh? Pokémon are tools for us to command and battle!"

"Tools?!" Dixie and Jakkaru questioned, the both of them highly appalled that they were hearing such things.

"Pokémon are living creatures with feelings and emotions like us!" Dixie shouted, clenching a fist. "How can you call them 'tools'?! They battle for us because they care about us just as we're supposed to care about them! Pokémon are our friends if we work at it long enough! They're not supposed to be 'used' as weapons! How can you live with yourself and that way of thinking?!"

Both Jaxx and Jakkaru had turned their attention from the man to Dixie, slightly surprised by her outburst. So far to them, she had proven herself not to really be all that concerned over things and certainly not so much so to be making logical sense.

"Yer all jus' kids... there's nothin' tha' ya are gonna understand until ya get older..." the man replied, furrowing his own brow. "I'll make sure I'm gettin' that Pikachu back... that little rodent 'as cost me a lot and I'm not about to lose 'im because some idiotic group'a kids decided to meddle in business they had no business bein' in."

After saying that, the man turned and made his way down the route, accepting the fact that it must have been true what Dixie had said – the Pikachu was no longer with her and that he had ran off.

"Dix..." Jaxx started, dropping the rock, returning Spearow to his PokéBall and then looking to the younger girl.

"H-huh?" Dixie answered, still a little shaken by what had gone on.

"You're..." he glanced over to Jakkaru.

The brunette wasn't even paying attention to the two of them at the moment. Instead, she had whistled loudly, calling Whisper and Milkweed back to where it was she was so that she could return them to their PokéBall capsules.

"You're okay... right?" Jaxx asked, looking back down to Dixie.

Giving a slight nod, Dixie responded, "y-yeah. Nothing bad really happened... I just...."

"Just...?" Jaxx cocked a brow, waiting for Dixie to continue.

"Just... maybe a little bruised on my side – nothing big!" Dixie quickly added, not wanting her friend to worry.

"Bruised?" Jaxx gave a slight sigh and then clenched Spearow's PokéBall tighter in his hand. It was clear to see that he wasn't too thrilled about that news. He looked back to her and just gave a slightly irritated sigh, "but... at least you're better than you could have possibly have been...."

A smile made its way onto Dixie's face, "yeah... I guess you're right about that."

"Heh...."

"Oh... and thanks again. Both of you."

"You're our friend, Dixie," Jakkaru replied, having returned Whisper and Milkweed to their capsules and putting the balls back in her bag. She had the incubator cradled in her arms and a warm smile was on her face.

After Jakkaru had said that and seeing her expression, Dixie's smile grew wider into a grin and she said it again, "thanks."

She drew her hands together and giggled slightly, pushing away all the uneasiness that she had felt prior to how she was now and then looking up to Jaxx and then to Jakkaru.

"You know... I'm really glad that I got to meet the two of you..." Dixie admitted, smiling to the both of them. "I mean... you both are really great friends, and I appreciate all the help that you both have offered me and the fact that you both have pretty much agreed to traveling with me. I honestly don't know what this would be like if I were alone – I'd probably still be stuck in Pewter and still struggling to win my first badge."

"Nice speech, Dixie... but can we save the sap for Venomoths?" Jaxx replied, giving a slight smirk and walking past her a bit, ruffling her hair as he did. Jakkaru gave a slight laugh as well and followed after him.

"H-hey..." Dixie started, straightening out her hair and then quickly jogging to catch up with the two of them – disregarding the small amount of pain in her side.

"Wasn't it you that was excited about getting on the road to Cerulean City, Dix?" Jakkaru asked, a slight teasing sound to her voice.

"Well... yeah..." Dixie replied, walking next to the both of them and then starting to fiddle with the ends of her shirt.

"Heh... then we're going to be going – besides... we don't know how long it'll be taking to get through Mt. Moon..." Jaxx said, adding onto what Jakkaru was saying.

"Yeah... hehe, and maybe we'll be able to catch more Pokémon in the process!" Dixie chirped. Though she now seemed as if she were cheerful, there were new things that raced through her mind.

First, there were those two people that seemed as if they were after Zalaras. Now there was this unknown guy that claimed that Pokémon were tools that existed to serve humans. These were all thoughts that bugged Dixie – and though she knew that her friends wanted to keep their minds off of those, it was pretty much a given that the three of them were going to definitely have to keep on their toes while traveling though the Kanto region.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

The initial trek from traveling to Pewter City to the entrance of Mt. Moon had taken about three days. During those three days, that same Pikachu had come out every now and then, dropping various berries at the group's feet and then running off. Its behaviours had the group puzzled for a moment – Dixie especially. She had thought that the small electrical rodent had run off to be free.

Standing at the entrance to Mt. Moon, Dixie, Jaxx and Jakkaru had taken to resting up before actually entering the cave. As they got the last of their items packed and put away, Dixie trotted up closer to the entrance and looked inside, seeing nothing but the beginnings of the cave and the dark inside. A few high pitched screeches could be heard every now and then. The noise themselves had piqued Jakkaru's interest, and the brunette had jogged up to be standing next to Dixie, a grin upon her face as she listened to the Pokémon making the eerie noises within.

"Do you hear that, huh?" Jakkaru asked, quite obviously enthused by the sounds. She hopped up and down happily, unable to contain her excitement with being able to go in and see the Pokémon that lived within Mt. Moon.

"Yeah... I do... what are they?" Dixie questioned in return, putting her hand into her pocket and pulling out the familiar PokéDex. Opening it, the younger of the two females glanced back to Jaxx and then looked back to Jakkaru, waiting for her response.

"Oh man, you don't know?" Jakkaru seemed a little surprised by Dixie, though quickly shrugged it off and grinned. "Inside there, there's tons of Zubat. That's what you can hear now. They're using echolocation to navigate through the cave."

"Ooh..." Dixie started, giving a slight smile. "That's the thing that causes a supersonic burst and has the sound waves bounce off walls and back to them to create a 'sound-made' image, right?"

"Uh... yeah... that's right..." Jakkaru replied, a little shocked by what Dixie had said. "Where'd you learn that from, anyways?"

"About echolocation?"

"Yeah..."

Dixie laughed a little and then rubbed at the back of her neck. "Well... I know it's a little surprising, but back when I was living in Saffron with my parents. I would read a lot.... I just remember it from several of the books that I've read over time."

"Are we going in, or are we going to stand here talking about echolocation?" Jaxx piped up, slinging his worn backpack over his shoulder and making his way to the two girls of the group. A slightly smug look was etched upon his face as he looked to both Jakkaru and Dixie and then he stepped further towards the cave.

"H-hey wait..." Dixie said, taking a small step forwards and having the familiar sense of uncertainty rise within her. "Y-you don't think that there's any..." she trailed off and cast her gaze down, looking to her shoes.

"'There's any' what, Dixie?" both Jakkaru and Jaxx asked as they turned their attentions towards her.

"W-well... if there's any..." Dixie stuttered, her voice starting to grow small. She fidgeted for a moment and then looked up to both of her friends in a slightly ashamed fashion, the word escaping her lips in almost a squeak, "g-ghosts...?"

"Ghosts? In here?" Jakkaru tried to hold back from having that slight laugh make it from her mouth.

Nodding vigorously, Dixie refused to make a verbal comment.

"There's no ghosts in Mt. Moon..." Jaxx said, giving a slight shrug. "It's only really a home to Pokémon such as Zubat, Paras, Clefairy, Geodude and a couple other things of the like...."

"Really?" the ebony-haired girl didn't sound too certain, though one could tell that she had relaxed a bit from her previous state. She walked forwards a little more and then paused beside both of her peers. Turning, she looked back and down along the trail in which they had come from, scanning the area with her green eyes.

"Looking for something out there...?" Jaxx asked, noticing that Dixie had been looking back for nearly two minutes now.

"I..." Dixie began, turning to face Jaxx. "I was wondering about that Pikachu."

"Don't worry about it, Dixie..." the dark-haired male replied. "If it's going to go out and be free or whatever, they it'll do so. If it's going to be following us like it has been, then.. it's trying to get something across to us in some fashion. Anyways... point is... don't worry about it so much – I'm sure that it'll be fine."

Nodding to that, Dixie was still a little skeptical about it, though she decided to go with it and then quickly hurried to where it was that Jakkaru and Jaxx stood. Looking to the both of them for a moment, she waited for a moment and merely followed after Jaxx after he had decided that he was going to be the one to lead though the cave. As he walked forwards, both female trainers kept close to him, Dixie especially.

"What is the matter with you, Dix?" Jaxx asked after some time, noticing that Dixie had grabbed a hold of his backpack after some time and was staying extremely close. She had even jumped at a few sounds and things that had flitted past.

"N-nothing! What would make you think that anything was up, h-huh?" Dixie asked, giving a rather nervous laugh as she had said those few words to him.

Stopping, Jaxx turned to look down at Dixie and then replied with, "well... the fact that you've been yelping at nearly every noise that we've heard in here and almost squeezing the life out of me when a Zubat rushed past.... I think you're afraid of the dark...."

"I-I am not," Dixie replied, trying to sound more confident than she actually was. Letting go of Jaxx, she trotted ahead a couple of feet and turned to look at both he and Jakkaru. She brushed her hair out of her face and gave a wry smile to try and show that the cave really wasn't bothering her all that much. Shrugging off the skeptical looks she received from both Jaxx and Jakkaru, Dixie dug in her messenger bag and pulled out that familiar, fire emblem marked PokéBall capsule and released Zalaras, his tail immediately brightening up the place a little more.

Swallowing her uneasiness, Dixie grinned down to golden Charmander and gave him his instructions, "all right, Zal! Do you think you can lead us for a bit until we reach the exit of this cave?"

Nodding up to her with a small smile upon his face, Zalaras happily wagged his tail (more happy that he was out of his PokéBall more than anything else) and then started off, his tail illuminating more of the caves walls. As he trekked forwards, the trio followed after him, looking around at what they could. Dixie had tried humming softly to get her mind off of certain things as they continued through Mt. Moon.

A Zubat flitted past Dixie's face with a small screech. Hearing that, the black-haired girl jumped back with a small scream.

Alarmed, Zalaras turned back and ran over to where his trainer was, looking around for what it was that had caused his trainer to react in such a fashion. The Charmander clutched his little hands onto Dixie's pant leg and looked up to her with an expression showing concern as the two other humans made their way over to where they stood.

"You sure you just aren't afraid of the dark?" Jaxx asked, flatly looking to the younger girl. He had taken to folding his arms over his chest and stepping out in front of her.

"It's not the dark that I'm afraid of... and I'm not afraid of these Zubat, either!" Dixie quickly added, hearing another one of the bat-type Pokémon screech and soar past overhead.

"I didn't think that you actually were..." Jakkaru interjected, shifting her incubating egg in her arms. "After all, I doubt that you would have been able to defeat Forrest were you afraid of them – and just considering that you had your Butterfree up against the final evolved form of Zubat..." she trailed off, shifting her attention over to Jaxx, hoping that he would at least get the point she was trying to get across before the two started bickering again.

Shrugging it off, Jaxx gave a small sigh and then looked away. He wondered about how long it would be taking to be reaching the exit of this cave.

"So then... what is it?" Jaxx asked, turning his gaze back to Dixie as he asked the question.

"Well... uh..." the black-haired girl started, starting to fidget slightly and then bending over to scoop Zalaras up into her arms. Cradling the golden Charmander, Dixie glanced from Jakkaru to Jaxx and tried to form the words of what she wanted to say in her mind. There was just so few things that she wanted to say about this particular subject that was at hand, but she knew that if she didn't tell them that it would be pried out of her in some fashion; one way or another.

Swallowing, Dixie continued, "it's just... I'm not all that comfortable in places I don't really know all that well that's... creepy like this. I mean... to me, this is kind of like a place that screams, 'hey, look at me! I'm a home for ghosts!'"

After Dixie has said that, the group had stayed silent for a moment. The younger of the three began to feel a little uneasy by that. Shifting on her feet a tad, Dixie took a step forwards while giving a nervous laugh and saying, "well, we shouldn't be wasting anymore time getting to Cerulean City, right? I-I've still got another badge to be winning after all!"

Giving a slight shake of the head, Jaxx stuffed his hands into his pockets and followed after her, Jakkaru quickly trailing after. She had taken to looking more around the cave with an expression of fascination and a certain longing. As the group continued, the brunette seemed to have a hard time not adjusting her bag to pull out PokéBall capsules.

"Hey guys, can we stop and look around just for a little bit?" Jakkaru asked, a small grin starting to find its way onto her face. She seemed almost as giddy as a frolicking Ponyta foal that was let out to play in the field.

"Eh? But why?" Dixie questioned, turning on her heel and looking over to the brown-haired girl. Once she had looked to her, though, it was pretty evident that the reason behind Jakkaru wanting to stay in the cave to look around was to add onto her Pokémon collection. Dixie could see how antsy her peer was becoming while she waited for either the younger of the two or Jaxx himself would answer.

"There's just so many different Pokémon that I never got to capture last time I was here," Jakkaru replied, answering Dixie's question. Jakkaru shifted her bag once more and then looked from the younger girl to the black-haired boy. Her grin faded just a little bit and then she added, "and think of it this way – if we get to stay around a little more, we can perhaps get some training done for Dixie's next gym battle _and_ you both may catch some new Pokémon of your own!"

Jaxx gave a slight sigh at that. He wasn't exactly keen on staying in the cave too much longer himself. It was a hassle having to guess what time it was and only traveling by the light of a Charmander's tail flame. Shifting his gaze from Jakkaru back to Dixie for a moment, he asked, "what do you think, Dixie?"

"I think I'm going to have to say that my answer is going to stay the same as what I said before," Dixie responded, holding Zalaras a little closer to her as she looked down to her feet. Glancing back up for but a moment, she continued, "I mean... I really want to get all the badges and stuff so that I can enter the Indigo League..." trailing off at that, the young girl ponder for a moment.

"But... I guess some training in between to keep us up to speed wouldn't be such a bad thing either, I just...." She paused for a moment and then looked around to the area that surrounded all of them. "I just don't want to do it in here."

"Please Dixie?" Jakkaru begged, giving the younger girl her best pout.

"Nn..." Dixie took in a breath and gave a slightly irritable sigh. With that, she looked further down the cave in the direction that they were supposed to be going and then frowned slightly. Dixie thought about this in her mind – after all, Jakkaru had brought up a fairly decent point about training... and getting a new Pokémon for the team would be nice, too.

Looking down to Zalaras and then stuffing a hand into her pocket to dig out her PokéGear, Dixie checked the time and then turned her attention back up to her two traveling companions. They both gave her rather piqued expressions, awaiting what it was that she would say.

Setting the golden lizard back onto the ground, Dixie placed her hands on her hips and then said to both Jakkaru and Jaxx, "the time on my PokéGear says that it's almost in the afternoon. I'm kind of hoping that we'll be able to get out of here before evening rolls around.... So... I guess if we have quick training sessions and stuff...."

As soon as Dixie trailed off, Jakkaru leaped forwards at her, linking arms with her and grinning in the process. The brunette seemed a lot more enthusiastic about the highly vague answer that was given than the other two trainers that were there. As Jakkaru hopped up and down with excitement, Dixie refused to partake in her overjoyed enthusiasm.

Skipping off after a bit, Jakkaru's humming could be heard as Dixie gave a slightly irritated sigh and then looked over to Jaxx. Her gaze met his for a moment and she kind of gave him that look that just asked, 'why does she have to be like this?'

The dark-haired male gave a shrug of his shoulders and then started to follow after Jakkaru. A small sigh escaped his lips as well and he looked back to Dixie, his hair starting to curtain over his eyes as he simply said to her, "c'mon... if we get lucky, Jakkaru will get distracted all the way to the exit of this place."

Dixie gave a hollow laugh at that and then followed after Jaxx, Zalaras at her heels. Both girl and Pokémon walked alongside Jaxx, simply ignoring Jakkaru's enthusiastic humming and comments on certain Pokémon that lived in the area. The air between them was quiet save for the occasional dripping of water or the wing beats of a Zubat that fluttered past, only to be repelled by the light that came from the golden lizard's tail.

"Hey..." Jaxx finally said after a while, looking over to Dixie for a mere moment, continuing forwards.

Dixie turned her attention towards him and then tilted her head questioningly.

Jaxx took a moment to form the question in his mind before he finally asked, "... why is it that you want to take the Gym Challenge and enter the League? Just out of curiosity... because honestly? You don't really seem all that much like you should even _be_ the battling trainer-type person if you ask me."

Stopping in her tracks, Dixie looked down and a sheepish smile appeared upon her lips. She drew her hands together and then looked back to Jaxx, who had also stopped and was looking to her. Dixie bit at her lower lip for a moment before turning her gaze down to the golden Charmander at her side and knelt down beside him, placing a hand affectionately on top of his head.

"I... want to be as good as my older sister, honestly..." Dixie replied, stroking Zalaras' head as she spoke. "She was always out there to protect Layla and I. I always looked up to her... depended on her... but then I started to get tired of it, I wanted to do some things for my own. Fend for myself for once – just do something and be able to say, 'hey, look at what I was able to do!'."

Silence rose through the air again and Zalaras had looked from Dixie to Jaxx several times, wondering why the two of them had grown so silent. Raising his little hands, Zalaras placed them against Dixie's knee and looked up at her, noting her concentrated expression on her face and then looked back at Jaxx, still rather confused by what was going on.

The sound of feet hurriedly hitting the ground growing louder was heard by the three that were there and they all had turned their attentions to it. Jakkaru was rushing back, a wide smile on her face and only leaving both Jaxx and Dixie that she was real lucky to have been running like that without damaging the egg that was within the incubator that she had been carting around the past two weeks.

"Guys, guys! Come look at this, this is so awesome! Come on, come on!" Jakkaru said, obviously excited by whatever it was that she had come across. Her excitement showed greatly with the fact that she was nearly shaking because of it.

"What is it that you found, Jakkaru?" Dixie asked, wrapping her arms around Zalaras before standing back up and cradling him in her arms. The golden lizard wasn't too fond of the action, and squirmed a little in her grasp before just settling and going along with it after realizing that Dixie wasn't going to be putting him back down.

"Oh man, you're just going to have to come and see this for yourself. It's really awesome – we have to get there quick before they finish up! This is the first time that I've actually seen something like this, and just... just... well, you gotta see it!" Jakkaru replied, blatantly showing that she was way too excited to be even forming a complete thought trying to tell the two younger trainers that were there about what it was that she had seen. Before Jakkaru had heard anything else that either Dixie or Jaxx had opened their mouth to be saying, she had bounded off back in the direction in which she came, giggling somewhat.

"Any idea as to _what_ she may have found?" Jaxx asked, adjusting his backpack before folding his arms over his chest. He glanced back at Dixie, awaiting her response before taking a step forwards to begin following after Jakkaru.

"It must be something that's Pokémon related – after all, I've never seen her act so excited over anything else..." Dixie replied, giving a slight shrug of her shoulders. Seeing Jaxx step forwards, Dixie made motions to follow after him, waving her hand a bit to signal Zalaras that they were getting ready to move.

As they started to make their way down along the way that Jakkaru went, the brunette had turned around and came back, waving a hand at Dixie. Jaxx had merely arced a brow at the Pokémon fanatic's actions and paused as Jakkaru came to a halt back in front of the youngest of the trio.

"Dixie, Dixie... return Zalaras to his PokéBall. Quick! The light will scare them off!" Jakkaru said, the grin having failed to disappear from her lips. Though her smile still stuck, Zalaras wasn't so amused. He had shot her a look from where he was standing and protested slightly by furrowing his brow and grabbing onto Dixie's pant leg. It seemed that if there was one thing that the golden fire-lizard disliked, it was going into his ball capsule.

Leaning down, Dixie looked down at the alternately coloured Charmander and offered him what she hoped to be a comforting smile. She rose a hand and patted him on the head for a moment and then said to him, "sorry buddy... I know you don't really like going into the PokéBall, but I would really like to see what it is that Jakkaru found."

"Char char charmander!" was Zalaras' defiant response as he gave a small frown and then looked down to his feet.

"I wish you could stay out, too, Zal..." Dixie replied, pulling his PokéBall out of her messenger bag and then returning him to the capsule. Dixie put the ball back into her messenger bag and then looked up to Jaxx and Jakkaru. The brunette had grinned a bit and then started back off in the opposite direction, a small bounce to her step as she tried to swiftly make her way out to wherever it was that she was leading the other two without losing them.

"What is it that you found, anyways, Jakkaru...? Can you at least tell us that?" Dixie asked, frowning a bit as they continued to walk after the brunette.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you!" Jakkaru grinned, continuing to walk forwards and shifting the incubating egg in her arms. There was still that bounce to her step as she continued and after a few more paces to wherever Jakkaru was leading the other two, a chanting could be heard and a faint light could be seen from where it was the trio was.

"What's that noise?" Jaxx asked, looking over to Jakkaru.

"You'll see," Jakkaru replied, a singsong quality to her tone. She continued to be her bubbly self as soon as the three of them had neared the light and noise enough to be making out what it was. Upon seeing what it was that was making the noise, Dixie had gasped in amazement and Jaxx's brow rose in slight surprise. What the two of them had been led to seeing was a cluster of Clefairy and Clefable performing some kind of jumping, synchronized dance around a large grey stone that had small divots and cracks running through it.

"Wow..." Dixie breathed, looking out the the small fairy-esque Pokémon that were chanting and hopping around the large stone. She had to blink a couple of times and then turn her attention over to both Jaxx and Jakkaru. Dixie had opened her mouth to answer a question, though the words failed to escape her lips as she tried to form them.

"Hey look..." Jaxx said, breaking Dixie's focus on the Clefairy and Clefable for a moment. The dark-haired male had pointed up at something, and both Dixie and Jakkaru had turned their heads to look at whatever it was that Jaxx was bringing their attention to. Where he was pointing, there was a brighter gleam of light that showed through other the faint lights that peeked through the cracks of the roof of the cave to offer only enough light to be illuminating the room with the small Pokémon.

"I think it may be the exit..." Jaxx continued, lowering his arm and then looking to both Jakkaru and Dixie.

"What's the rush?" Jakkaru asked, her voice low so that she didn't scare off the Pokémon. "Look... we'll just wait till they're finished with whatever it is they're doing and then be on our merry way. Let's just see what they're doing. Aren't you the least bit interested on what's going on?"

"Well... y-yeah... but..." Jaxx replied, not exactly knowing how to respond to Jakkaru. Giving them a sheepish look, the dark-haired male had merely resorted to rubbing at the back of his neck and then looked out the small pixie-like Pokémon that continued their 'ritual'. Jakkaru had whipped out her camera and had been taking pictures of what was going on, being sure to have had her flash turned off so that she didn't come to startling the Pokémon that were around.

As the time rolled on by, it was observed that the Clefairy were soon to be evolving into Clefable, like the other pixie-like Pokémon that were also participating in the event that they had decided to be going on about. As they finished up, the Pokémon had made their way away from the area and out of sight. The whole sight had Jakkaru grinning the entire time and Dixie amazed by what had just gone on. Jaxx had kept to himself the whole time as the Clefairy and Clefable did whatever it was they were doing and was about to say something before a high-pitched screech emitted and the three of them immediately turned to be seeing a Zubat rushing straight for them.

The Zubat neared Dixie and the young girl had raised her arms to be defending herself against the Pokémon. Staying like that for a moment, the impact of the bat-like Pokémon never came, but instead the cave's insides lit up as a loud cry echoed out. Looking up, Dixie glanced from Jaxx and Jakkaru down to the Zubat that was now on the ground and twitching slightly. The sight in and of itself confused the colourfully clad girl and she rose her gaze a tad to be looking at the familiar Pikachu that she, Jaxx and Jakkaru had all helped out to be getting away from that man.

"It's you again..." Dixie said, crouching down and holding her hand out to the Pikachu. As she did, she looked up at Jakkaru for a moment with a small hint of uncertainty. After all, Dixie had wanted the Pikachu to go out and be free. Thinking of that for that brief moment, a frown had made its way onto Dixie's face and she glanced down from the Pikachu to the Zubat.

"What are you thinking?" Jaxx asked, noticing that Dixie had shifted her gaze.

Shrugging, Dixie looked up to him and then pulled out a PokéBall from her messenger bag and lightly tossed it at the Zubat. The creature became engulfed in red light and then became encased within the capsule. The red and white ball shook, its red light flashing as it did. Soon, it came to a stop and Dixie picked it back up while responding to Jaxx, "I can't just leave it here like that. Who's to saw something else will take advantage of its condition and weaken it worse than it already is?"

"After it had just tried to – Dixie..." Jaxx growled, furrowing his brow slightly out of annoyance.

"Let her do what she wants, Jaxx... jeeze..." Jakkaru scolded, glaring at him for a moment. "Dixie likes helping out other Pokémon, and you shouldn't tell her otherwise."

"Yeah... but if we keep stopping for every injured Pokémon we com across, we're never going to see the day that Dixie gets to challenge the Indigo League." Jaxx shook his dark hair from his face and then turned towards the light that emitted from the exit of the cave. Ignoring the other two, he made his way for it and merely waited a few paces away with his arms folded across his chest.

Watching after him, it was about a minute later before Jakkaru actually gave an amused scoff and then shook her head. She smiled slightly and then looked down to Dixie. "He acts like he doesn't care a lot of the time, huh? Though it seems he actually has some faith in you."

"What makes you say that?" Dixie asked, minimizing Zubat's PokéBall and then frowning up at the brunette. "Jaxx just wants to be getting back to Fuchsia as fast as he can – he doesn't care about us...." Sighing at that, Dixie looked down and then knelt back down to be more level with the Pikachu that was still there.

Laughing lightly, Jakkaru crouched down beside Dixie and then placed a hand on her shoulder. "Didn't you hear him? Even though he lacked tact, the words he said were, 'we're never going to see the day that Dixie gets to challenge the Indigo League'. I don't think he would have said something like that if he didn't think you were showing promise as a trainer."

Staying silent, Dixie just averted her attention from the Pikachu and then looked down to the ground. Seeing that, the electrical rodent neared the younger girl and then tilted his head in concern. He nudged her hand lightly with his nose and then looked back up to her to see if she would react to him.

"Heh... I guess you're right.... I should really just be thankful that I actually have friends that I can be traveling with..." Dixie replied, moving her hand and patting the Pikachu lightly on top of his head. The yellow Pokémon smiled in approval and leaned more into the girl's hand as she scrubbed his ears and head.

"Anyways... what about you, bud...?" Dixie asked, directing her question down at the Pikachu. "I don't suppose you've been looking out for us for no reason, huh?"

"Pi pikachu, pika pi pikachu!" the electrical rodent responded, waving his arms around somewhat and then motioning to Dixie's messenger bag. He had tugged a couple of times on the bag before receiving a questioning look from both Jakkaru and Dixie. He gave a slight sigh at the both of them and then pushed open the bag and then dug around in the pockets before he withdrew a PokéBall and held it up.

"What do you want me to do with it?" Dixie asked, taking the ping-pong sized capsule from the Pikachu's grasp and then maximizing it. She fiddled with it for a moment before she asked the Pokémon, "are you saying that you'd like to join me?"

"Chu pikachu!"

"I don't understand..." the dark-haired girl replied, frowning and giving a small sigh as she continued to look at the electrical Pokémon. "I mean... I had told you to go out and be free. To not worry about getting captured and going out to be living your own life. Don't you want to be doing that?"

"Pi... pi pikachu..." Pikachu's ears drooped slightly and he looked down. Motioning with his arms and going up on his toes, the Pikachu tired to act a little bigger than he was – taking in a breath to be puffing out his chest. Jakkaru had thoughtful look cross her face as the two girls looked at the rodent with piqued interest. It was obviously trying to be getting something across to them, though neither of them really knew what it was.

"Maybe... he wants to join your team in hopes that being with you will prevent him from falling back into the hands of that man..." Jakkaru said, observing the Pikachu's motions a little more closely. At that, the Pikachu had gone flatfooted and then perked his ears up with a smile of approval.

"Chu pikachu!" it confirmed, pointing back to the ball capsule in Dixie's hand.

"Oh..." Dixie mustered. "I get it now. If you get registered as one of my Pokémon, then you get to be protected against getting captured by someone else."

The Pikachu nodded again and then lightly pressed a paw against the small button on the ball. He looked up to Dixie for her approval and then back down to the ball.

"Well... I suppose first things first," Dixie smiled, patting the Pikachu on the head with her free hand once again. "If you join me... then that means I get to give you a name... because I don't want to call you by your species name – I don't think it'd be right for me to be doing that to a friend."

"Pika...?" the Pikachu let out, tilting his head and giving a questioning look at the last word that Dixie had said.

"You know... a friend," Dixie repeated, giggling lightly. She glanced over to Jakkaru and then gave a small explanation: "a friend is someone that you care for and can rely on. Someone that will be there for you when you need them and will normally to what it takes to help them when they need it most."

Coming to the understanding of the word, the Pikachu beamed placed both of his paws up on Dixie's hand.

"Hehe... so... a name..." the dark-haired girl continued, scratching the Pikachu's head once again and then closing her eyes in thought. "I suppose... how does 'Thunder' sound? Sound okay?"

Looking up at her, the Pikachu frowned and shook his head. The action caused Dixie to frown slightly once again and think on getting a name for him.

"If not that... then how about Sparks?"

"That sounds awfully like –" Jakkaru started before the Pikachu interjected happily and nodded. At that, the newly named Sparks pressed his paws back up against the PokéBall capsule and caused the device to open up and encase him within. After he had gone in, it was Jakkaru's turn to be giving a faint frown.

A small giggle escaped Dixie's lips and she stood up straight with Jakkaru at her side. She then turned her head to be looking up at the older girl. Slowly the smile faded from Dixie's face as she looked up to the older girl's expression. Blinking a couple of times, the colourfully dressed girl proceeded to be giving the brunette a questioning look due to the look she had upon her face.

"Something wrong?"

"Ah... forget it..." Jakkaru said, shrugging it off. "It's really a stupid thing to be bringing up, anyways. I was just going to comment on how 'Sparks' sounded a lot like 'Sparky' is all."

"Oh... well why did you want to bring it up?"

"Because of the Pikachu that's on my team. His name is Sparky." Jakkaru clapped a hand against Dixie's shoulder, adjusted the incubator in her arms and then smiled. "Anyways, we should probably get going before Jaxx starts to wonder what happened to us."

The smile returned onto Dixie's face followed by a small nod. "Right! Or maybe he'd just start along to Cerulean without us. Oh well, we'd be able to find him again if he did, I bet."

Giving a slight laugh, Jakkaru motioned towards the exit of Mt. Moon and the two girls made their way towards it. Dixie had Sparks' PokéBall in her hands and was looking down at it as she walked alongside the brunette. If there was anything that she was thinking about, it was how she was already able to make friends as quick as she had. Last time Dixie had seen her elder sister, the Wartortle that was with her didn't seem too keen on making friends with Dixie.

Stepping out into the sunlight, both Jakkaru and Dixie spotted Jaxx and waved at him. He had merely lazily returned the motion with an indifferent look upon his face and then turned back along the route that was leading from the cave towards Cerulean. Shoving his hands into his pockets, Jaxx kicked at a rock and continued to wait till both girls were actually there beside him before he started along the trail as well.

Walking along the trail and soon having buildings of Cerulean coming into sight, Jakkaru paused. Jaxx and Dixie stopped after a few paces to look over to her and then noticed that she was looking down at the egg within the incubator she always carried around. The pale blue egg had cracked and Jakkaru set it on the ground and opened the incubator to take out the egg. Both the younger kids had immediately come over to see what was going on and watched as cracks continued to stretch upon the surface of the egg.

Soon the egg shattered open and caused for the three preteens to raise their arms to shield their faces. On the ground before them was a small blue Pokémon with beady black eyes and cottony-like wings. It trilled lightly and looked to the three of them with a quizzical look upon its face and then hopped over to where Jakkaru was, pecking at her shoes.

"What is it..?" Dixie asked, digging in her bag and pulling out her PokéDex. Flipping the device open, the Dex came to life and immediately started to scan the Pokémon that had emerged from the egg.

_'Swablu, the Cotton Bird Pokémon. __Swablu loves to make things clean. If it spots something dirty, it will wipe and polish it with its cottony wings. If its wings become dirty, this Pokémon finds a stream and showers itself.'_

"A Swablu, huh?" Jakkaru asked, scooping up the young Pokémon up into her arms and smiling at him. "Well then, welcome to the team! My name is Jakkaru. Those two over there are my friends; Dixie and Jaxx."

Chirping up at the three preteens, the newly hatched Swablu had come to nestling himself comfortably in Jakkaru's arms and then looking to both Dixie and Jaxx with a sense of curiosity before merely shrugging them off and continuing to just stay in Jakkaru's hold. The brunette grinned down to him for a moment and then glanced over to her two friends before turning her attention back down to the Swablu and then saying, "you know... maybe giving you a name wouldn't be that bad, either. Heh... it's too bad I'm not like Dixie and can't come up with a name right on the dot like that."

Closing its eyes and fluffing itself up, the Swablu shrugged it off again and dozed off in his new trainer's arms. It seemed to have made himself immediately comfy in the three trainers' presence as they started back along the path to Cerulean City.

"So Dixie... have a plan against Misty? I'm sure you already know what her specialty is after you've seen what the Cascade Badge is." Jakkaru had looked in both Dixie and Jaxx's direction as she had asked her question. Her gaze was set mainly upon the younger girl and then got turned back down to the Swablu that was in her arms as she waited for a response.

Silence lingered in the air as the three of them started to enter the city. Dixie had pondered about the question as she fiddled with Sparks' PokéBall capsule in her hands. She had hardly noticed that she still was hanging onto it and fidgeting nervously until she had nearly bumped into the sign that welcomed people into Cerulean City.

"Nnn... I guess..." Dixie started, placing a hand against the sign and standing up straighter. "I guess I'll do some training again and see what Sparks knows so that he can battle against Misty's Pokémon. After all... with his electric attacks, he'll already have the type advantage against whatever water Pokémon that she'll have."

"Natural that Sparks would be your first choice..." Jakkaru remarked, going over and leaning against the sign as well.

"Wait... 'Sparks'?" Jaxx questioned, quirking a brow to the subject.

"Oh..." Dixie held up the now occupied PokéBall to show Jaxx. "He's the Pikachu that was looking out for us. He decided that he wanted to be part of our team, so I let him. After that, I named him Sparks."

"So you were able to get another Pokémon on your team from this 'befriending' tactic..." Jaxx scoffed, folding his arms over his chest. "Jeeze... going that way of getting Pokémon, I bet that Pikachu's going to be too soft going up against Misty. Though... I suppose I could come to being surprised. After all, you seemed to have done well against Forrest with Zalaras and your Butterfree."

"I..." Dixie started, minimizing Sparks' capsule and putting it in her messenger bag. "I'm not sure whether to be taking that as an insult or a compliment, honestly."

"Take it any way you want – not like it's going to be making much of a difference to me anyways." Jaxx adjusted the backpack he had slung across his back and then took a few steps forwards as if signaling to the other two that they had stopped long enough and had to be getting somewhere in the city as quick as they could. He turned his gaze away from them and then said, "we should be making it to the Pokémon Center quickly. Dixie... you wanted to help that Zubat, didn't you? And if it's something that may be part of your team, you should get it healed up so it's ready to get to training when we get down to it."

"Oh! Right!" Dixie said, shifting her messenger bag a bit to be more comfortably set upon her shoulder. She and Jakkaru went up to be walking back along Jaxx's side. They passed houses and storefronts as they continued along the city's walkways and then soon found themselves at the Pokémon Center. Making their way into the building, Dixie immediately took to going up to the front desk and talking with the Nurse Joy of Cerulean about taking care of the Pokémon that she had on hand.

In the meantime, Jakkaru had glanced over to Jaxx and then went to sit down in one of the chairs next to him. Taking this opportunity, Jakkaru took a PokéBall and used it to encase the Swablu for the time being. Shifting her attention to Dixie for a moment to make sure that she was still preoccupied with talking to Nurse Joy, Jakkaru turned her attention up to Jaxx and then proceeded to ask him, "why do you talk a lot about battling when you don't really like to be doing it in the first place, huh?"

"It's none of anyone's business..." Jaxx replied, not looking over to Jakkaru as he went over to sit a few seats away from her. "I have my own reasons for knowing about what I do... and I would prefer to be keeping them to myself, if you don't mind."

Jakkaru rolled her eyes and then shook her head. "Seriously Jaxx? You really need to stop acting like you don't care. You slip up a lot of the times when you talk with us about certain things. What's so hard about admitting that you actually see us as friends, huh?"

"Nothing is 'hard about it', as you so put it..." Jaxx retorted, clenching a hand into a fist. "I just want to be seeing Dixie getting her badges quickly so that way _we_ can be traveling quickly and I can finally hurry up and get to being with my brothers back home in Fuchsia. I'm not too keen on continuing to travel with you and the colourful sugar bomb all the way to the Indigo Plateau."

"You're a horrible liar," Jakkaru nearly spat before she had forced herself to exert a form self-control when she saw that Dixie was coming back with bottles of water for the three of them with a smile on her face. The brunette gave a wry smile in attempts to match Dixie's mood and so that she didn't suspect that there was anything up that had been discussed herself and Jaxx just a few seconds ago.

"So the Zubat's staying here for a couple of nights since it's being affected by paralysis from Sparks' Thunderbolt attack..." Dixie stated, taking the empty seat that was in between Jaxx and Jakkaru. Opening her bottle of water and taking a drink, Dixie continued afterward, "I was also thinking that after those two days... maybe I'll start training for going up against Misty. I want to know if Suono would like to be part of the team first, though. I mean... after all, if we go at things long enough, he'll eventually evolve into a Crobat like what Forrest has on his team!"

Both Jaxx and Jakkaru had turned their heads to look at her at the mention of the name of the Zubat. Jakkaru had given an amused scoff and Jaxx had shook his head in disbelief. After a moment, the two of them had shrugged it off and the elder girl had asked, "so you wouldn't mind having that Zubat being part of your team?"

"Not at all!" Dixie happily replied, tucking a few stray locks of hair behind her ear. "I mean... the more friends I can have on my team, then we'll work together and face the challenges that we have ahead of us – like going up against Cerulean City's Misty!"

"You're really looking forwards to that, aren't you?" Jaxx questioned, turning his head to be looking out the window and idly looking out to a girl playing with a Poliwag in a fountain.

"Well... yeah! Of course! I mean, after battling and winning against Misty, I'll get the Cascade Badge!" Dixie was nearly bouncing in her seat out of sheer excitement to be getting to the Cerulean Gym as soon as everything was ready. "And after getting the Cascade Badge, we'll be heading to the next city and winning the badge from them. With each new badge, we'll be a steps closer to be getting to the Indigo Plateau, and I'll be all that much closer to being able to challenge the League!"

"Nice to be seeing that you can still be so keen to looking forward to it even though you've only one badge in your possession at the moment..." Jaxx sighed, keeping his gaze aimed at the fountain. His response had caused Dixie to frown slightly and Jakkaru to be shooting him a look of disapproval.

"But hey..." Jaxx continued, not looking to the two of them. "The day you're able to get there... then everything will have paid off. You'll have accomplished a dream. Guess it's a good thing...."

The irritated look immediately faded from being upon Jakkaru's face as she had heard what had just come out of Jaxx's face. Her gaze continued to be set upon the dark-haired boy as he continued to keep his focus averted from both she and Dixie. A questioning look had made it upon her face as she stared at him. At that moment and time, everything about him seemed completely different than from how he was just a few minutes ago from when he was talking with her.

"Um... y-yeah... I guess so..." Dixie stuttered after that long moment of silence.

"You have a dream..." Jaxx said. "You have something you want to accomplish....You're lucky to have that much to have locked in your mind to be getting to." The look of indifference stayed on his face as his hair started to slowly allow gravity take its course of action and make it curtain over his eyes.

"Why... are you bringing this up...?" Dixie asked, putting the cap back on her water bottle and then looking down to the ground.

Getting up from the seat, Jaxx glanced to the two girls before starting to walk away. "You'll find out... maybe. Anyways... need some time to myself. I'll see you two later tonight, I suppose."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

Jaxx had laid awake that night as he and both Jakkaru and Dixie had asked Nurse Joy about staying a few nights at the Pokémon Center until Dixie had earned her second badge from Misty. There were thoughts running through his mind that kept him awake and tossing in bed. Sitting up, he threw the covers off himself and got up out of bed. Looking over to the bunks that Dixie and Jakkaru took to sleeping in, Jaxx silently made his way over to the small table that was in the room and had gone over to get the chain that sported his PokéBalls.

Taking them without making so much as a sound as he grabbed them from the table, Jaxx stole a glance at Dixie as he made his way to the door of the room and opened it. He winced slightly as the door had creaked as he widened it enough for himself to be getting out. Frowning, he stepped out into the hallway and then glanced back to the two sleeping girls who both didn't so much as stir as Jaxx closed the door behind him.

Shoving his hands into his pockets, Jaxx made his way down the hallway and then passed by a large window that allowed one to be seeing into an operating room. Pausing for a moment, Jaxx looked to the Zubat that was seemed to be happily sleeping on the table. The Zubat that Dixie had caught in attempts to be having it healed up and good as new.

Jaxx frowned as he continued to look at it. Dropping his violet gaze to the ground, a elongated sigh escaped from his lips and he rose a hand and placed it against the cool surface of the glass. Turning his attention back up to the Zubat that was asleep, the dark-haired male furrowed his brow and then turned to walk away with a scoff.

Continuing down along the hallway, Jaxx had passed by a rather tired Nurse Joy and a Chansey that was assisting her. He was going to keep going and just allow her to tend to her business, however, so much was not the case when the red-haired nurse had put a hand on his shoulder. Turning his head to be looking up at the nurse, a small shudder had made its way through his body as his gaze met the stern one that belonged to Nurse Joy.

"Shouldn't you be in bed, young man?" Nurse Joy asked, her voice holding that certain authoritative tone that a child would be expecting to hear from their parents.

Hesitating for a moment as he turned his gaze away from hers, Jaxx allowed for another sigh to escape his persona before replying with, "well... yes. I should be. I've just had a lot of things on my mind. I'm sorry if I'm disrupting anything, but I would like to get some time to myself to mull over a couple of things. I'm sure that after I do I can be getting to sleep a little more quickly."

Joy's stern expression softened a bit at that and she withdrew her hand from his shoulder. "I see then. Well... if that's it, I suppose I won't be stopping you." She turned back to the Chansey that was gingerly holding phials in her hands and walked back to her. Pausing for a moment, Joy glanced back to Jaxx and then added, "and you know... you're quite lucky to have those two girls as your friends. They seemed awfully worried about you this evening until you arrived back after dinner."

"'Worried about me'?" Jaxx repeated, a hollow laugh coming from his lips after he had. Shaking his head, Jaxx scoffed again and murmured to himself, "girls.... Why would they even worry about me? I'm a jerk to the both of them more than half the time I even communicate with either of them. Jakkaru probably hates me with the way she always seems to scold me... and Dixie...." Silence rose as he paused right there.

"Dixie's just an annoying girl with something I don't have that managed to squeeze herself into my life..." Jaxx whispered, his voice nearly inaudible to even his own ears. Walking down the hall at a slower pace than before, Jaxx had hung his head as he took those first few steps into the lobby area of the Pokémon Center. There were other trainers in there... trainers that were fidgeting nervously and looking in the direction of where the ER was located.

Brushing past them and ignoring them for the time being, Jaxx had made his way to the front of the Center and then made his way from the automatic sliding doors. He inhaled deeply as he took in the cool night air and then proceeded to walking along the trail next to the Pokémon Center until he had ended up at the fountain that was part of the Center's very small courtyard. He had walking to it rather quickly and then had taken to sitting on the ledge of it.

Taking the three capsules from the chain that hung at his side, Jaxx held them for a moment and then set them down beside him. He frowned a little more and looked up to the sky. Mulling over his thoughts for a moment, Jaxx then took ball capsules back up in his hand and murmured to himself, "how does she do it? She's not even a Breeder and she's only got one badge. And yet... she's able to go around and make nice with different kinds of Pokémon that we come across. It's not right."

Sighing yet again, Jaxx maximized two of the ball capsules and released the Pokémon within. A Growlithe and a Squirtle were looking up at him as soon as the white light from around them faded. Looking at them for a moment, Jaxx looked to the last PokéBall capsule that held his Spearow. Turning his gaze downward, Jaxx closed his eyes, soon coming to ignore the fact that the fire canine had pressed its nose up against his leg out of worriment.

Placing his hand atop the Growlithe's head, Jaxx patted him for a couple of seconds before looking down at him and offering a small smile. At the sight of the expression, the Growlithe wagged his tail uncertainly and gave a small bark.

Bringing his finger to his lips, Jaxx shushed the canine-like Pokémon and then looked over to Squirtle. Watching as the Tiny Turtle Pokémon made his way over, the dark-haired preteen leaned over and picked up the Squirtle. Placing him on the ledge beside him, Jaxx looked down to him and then gave another small sigh.

"You know..." Jaxx started, looking away from both the Growlithe and Squirtle. He turned his attention towards the other occupied PokéBall that was there and picked it up. Holding it up, Jaxx continued with what he had to say, "I guess... it's a little hard to be accepting the fact that Dixie may just have a better knack for what she does instead of what I try my best at knowing. I just choose the best thing that would benefit myself and those around me.... Heh, it's kind of sad, really. Here I am moping about how Dixie can make friends quickly with Pokémon than a person who practically grew up around Pokémon and learned many different breeder's techniques from his older bothers."

The Growlithe looked up to his trainer rather quizzically and then rose a paw to place against Jaxx's leg. The canine received a scrubbing behind the ears in response. Grinning to his trainer's actions, the Growlithe jumped up on the ledge next to Jaxx that was unoccupied and leaned his head in Jaxx's lap.

Petting the Growlithe for a while longer and feeling the Squirtle snuggle against his side, Jaxx's small smile widened. Shaking his head slightly, Jaxx gave an amused scoff and then said, "jeeze... heh, I must sound pretty bad at the moment. Just... complaining about all of this. Mean... got both of you... and Spearow... and that should be good enough for me...."

"Jaxx...?" a female's voice rang out.

Turning his head, Jaxx came to looking up at a rather tired looking Jakkaru. The slight smile that was upon Jaxx's faded as soon as he came into eye contact with her. As turned his attention away from her, he moved over some on the ledge of the fountain with both his Squirtle and Growlithe to be making room for her to be sitting down as well.

"What are you doing up so late?" Jakkaru asked as she made her way over and took up a seat next to Jaxx.

"I could be asking you the same question..." Jaxx quietly retorted, looking down to the Growlithe that had his head in Jaxx's lap.

"I wanted to get a drink of water... but then I saw that your bunk was empty." Jakkaru turned her gaze downward as she spoke to Jaxx and drew her hands together.

A sigh escaped Jaxx's lips and he scowled lightly. "I came out because I couldn't sleep. I didn't want to wake you guys, so I came out here to think a bit. But..." Jaxx moved the Growlithe and Squirtle, then stood up straight. "It seems that I got everything sorted out and can go back to sleep. Good night."

Finishing up, Jaxx grabbed Spearow's PokéBall capsule, attached it back to his chain and then soon returned both the fire-type canine, and the small blue turtle. Doing the same with their ball capsules, Jaxx headed back for the Pokémon Center without so much as a glance back at Jakkaru as he walked down along the cobbled pathway that led to its doors.

* * *

"What do you mean we can't be setting up a shop here!?" Ruth angrily asked, her brow knitted together tightly and her hands clenched tight into fists. She was arguing with Officer Jenny that had told her and Harold to be taking down the shop that they had set up and take it elsewhere for being in an inconvenient location.

"I meant exactly what I had said," Jenny retorted, placing her hands upon her hips and giving the duo a rather unimpressed look. "So I suggest getting your things packed up and moving to a more convenient location before I confiscate everything you're trying to sell."

Ruth grumbled and looked as if she were about to give the Officer Jenny a good amount of retorts. The redhead relaxed some, huffed and then turned back to the stand that she and Harold had set up. With a simple 'fine', Ruth had proceeded to getting a lot of the things that were up in the stand packed away into the boxes that were there. Harold looked from the Jenny to Ruth, shrugged off what was going on and then went to help his partner.

Having been thoroughly annoyed with the two, Officer Jenny folded her arms over her chest and continued to watch the two get their stuff packed and out of the way. As soon as both Harold and Ruth got everything organized into the boxes that were laying around the stand, Jenny distanced herself some and allowed for the two to be getting everything moved out of the way.

Grumbling along the way of getting everything moved and repacked into the boxes from where they came, Ruth stood up straighter and then eyed Officer Jenny with a scowl. For a moment, Ruth's jaw clenched, and she had even considered walking up to the Jenny that was there and smacking her across the face, as the blue-haired woman had merely sighed and rolled her eyes before walking off.

"Those Officer Jennys..." Ruth growled in between clenched teeth. "They think they're all high and mighty just because they're officers. I'd like to give them all a piece of my mind!"

"You should really just calm down and think about our main objective here," Harold said, stacking the boxes on top of one another. "Remember that that girl we're keeping our eye on is challenging the Gyms. If we're correct, her and her friends would have been traveling through Mount Moon to be getting here in Cerulean."

Ruth looked to Harold and took in a deep breath. She turned her gaze away before she folded her arms over her chest and replied with, "right... and since we've been here in Cerulean for easily a good few days, those kids are probably here as well. Soon that little golden Charmander will be in our possession."

"Yeah... and seeing that thing again will be a relief from getting all these passing by Trainers that don't have a single interesting Pokémon on them," Harold commented, turning his attention back to the boxes. His Murkrow flew from its perch on a neighbouring building and then landed on top of the topmost box that was there. It seemed a little flustered as it flapped its wings about and cawed for a good few moments. Before too long, the Murkrow took back into the air and flew onto another perch.

The fowl pointed with its wing out to a pathway in the city that caught both Ruth and Harold's main point of interest and they turned their heads. A sense of panic quickly arose between the two that were there before they darted around their boxes and looked to the three familiar faces that were walking past. There was the same dark-haired girl that sported a happy-go-lucky expression marked clearly upon her face, the same brunette that seemed to have that look of a responsible teen, and the same preteen male that seemed to be unfazed by what went on around him and the others.

"Well, well... what do you know..." Harold mused loud enough for only he and Ruth to be hearing. "Looks like we don't have to be waiting all that long after all."

Ruth's attention was more focused on the PokéBall that the younger and more colourful girl seemed to be babying. A frown creased upon Ruth's lips as she continued to watch and observe – there was no way that whatever was in that PokéBall was just a normal Pokémon, not with the way that the young girl was smiling and acting all vibrant about it.

"Looks like there may be something more of interest with that trio..." Ruth finally said after some time. The duo had watched the three young preteens walking off down the street. Looking past them, Ruth saw that they were headed over to the Cerulean City Gym.

"Harold..." Ruth started, starting to walk in the same direction as the trio. "Leave the stuff here; cover it, or something. We need to be seeing if there's still anything of merit with those brats – and now would be the perfect time, since they're headed towards the Gym."

"O-okay...?" Harold replied, a slightly questioning look making its way upon his face. He turned his gaze over to look at Ruth and then watched as she continued to follow after the three that had just passed on by. Harold was about to call out to her before she disappeared from sight, though quickly held his tongue and did as he was told. He got the boxes put away into a cart that the two of them had borrowed and locked the stuff down tight within before instructing his Murkrow to keep an eye on it.

Cawing its acknowledgment, the Murkrow rose its wing in a salute to Harold and then took to the sky to keep an aerial watch over things.

Trotting along to fall into step besides Ruth, Harold looked around for a moment and then shoved his hands into his pockets as soon as he slowed into a walk. He kept mostly to himself as he saw the rather determined look on his partner's face.

"So say that we eventually do get that Charmander that that girl has..." Harold started, turning his gaze to the Gym as the two of them slowly neared the building. He watched as the trio that they were following opened the doors to the place and then entered. Shaking his head, he turned his attention back to looking at Ruth, "what do you think that we'll be getting for it? After all, it's not like we like some organization like... what was it... Team Rocket?"

"That's true, but also keep in mind that Team Rocket has been disbanded for a good six years now... seeing any of them again here in the near future isn't probably going to happen," Ruth replied, still focusing on moving forwards and not what Harold had to be saying.

"That's not really what I was saying..." Harold said, a frown curving onto his lips as he continued to walk alongside her. "I mean, it's not like we're taking Pokémon for our own reasons to be taking control of things...."

Ruth paused and then looked to him.

"What..?" Harold asked, giving Ruth a quizzical look as she stared at him with a small, yet devious smile, growing upon her face.

"Come with me," Ruth suddenly said, turning back and grabbing Harold's arm roughly. With him in tow, she continued to walk back to where they had set up the shop, the smile on her face turning into somewhat of a grin as she thought about what Harold had just said to her.

* * *

"Alright Gem! Use Swift! Show that Starmie you're no pushover!" a wavy light blue-haired girl shouted as she kept her eyes on the tiny Staryu that stood on the floating platform before her.

Giving a nod to the command, the Staryu jumped up and angled towards the Starmie before it. The jewel faceted upon the its body lit up a brilliant pink as it fired off several dozen rounds of stars off at its foe.

"Starmie! Dive into the water to try and dodge!" the red-headed female on the opposite side of the field shouted.

The eight-limbed starfish-like Pokémon leaped from its red platform to dive into the water. However, a good few stars from the swift attack pelted its purple body before it actually got to breaking the water's surface for a dive. As the Starmie drifted down into the water, the jewel on its body flashed red a couple of times as it awaited for the commands that were soon to come from its Trainer's mouth.

"Wow! This battle's been going on for quite a while!" Dixie remarked, hugging Zalaras close to her as she and the others sat in the stands of the Cerulean Gym. As she watched the Leader of the Gym do battle with the other female that was there, Dixie couldn't help but to be having an amazed look on her face as she watched the two water-types battle it out.

"Yeah... certainly has..." Jaxx responded, folding his arms over his chest with a slightly disgruntled look upon his face. "At this rate, you're not going to be battling Misty till tomorrow and we'll be on this goofy 'adventure' longer than a want to b– gnn!"

Jaxx had been cut short as an elbow had jabbed him hard in the side. He shot Jakkaru a look, who seemed to be disregarding the fact that she had been the one that elbowed him, and kept her gaze out on the battle at hand.

"Jaxx, are you okay?" Dixie asked, tearing her attention from the battle to be looking at him beside her.

"H-huh? Oh... yeah, I'm fine..." Jaxx responded turning his head to look at her for but a moment before turning his attention back to the battle between Misty and the other girl.

"All right, Starmie! Now that you've gotten that Staryu right where you want it, begin a Rapid Spin to work up a strong Whirlpool attack!" Misty commanded with a determined look upon her face as she watched as a small swirl started in the water. Only a couple of seconds later, that swirl had turned into a violent whirlpool that was dragging the small Staryu toward it.

"Hyaa!" the Staryu gave off, resisting the pull of the whirlpool as much as it could be.

"Nng... Gem! Try using Harden to make it so you don't get dealt a lot of damage!" the challenging female shouted out.

Nearing the edges of the whirlpool, the Staryu had started to glow white in colour as it followed the attack orders. Even though the Staryu had hardened its body in preparation to being attacked, it seemed to have winced as if it were in a great deal of pain as it started to spin in with the whirlpool that Misty's Starmie had created.

"Now's your chance, Starmie! Near your foe and the battle with Water Pulse!" Misty shouted.

Jetting up through the whirlpool's waves, Starmie had quickly come to close the Staryu and a ball of water quickly formed in front of the Starmie's jewel. The Staryu quickly tried to maneuver away, though the Starmie released the pulse of water towards the Staryu and sent it sailing from the pool.

"Oh no! Gem!" the blue-haired female shrieked as she watched the small Pokémon sail back into the blue platform and then back into the pool's wall. It gave a weak cry as the gem on its body started to flash dully. The wavy-haired female ran from the platform that she was situated upon and went over to where the small Staryu sat and then gave a meek smile.

"There's always next time, Gem..." she said to it as she dug in her white purse for the Pokémon's ball capsule. Raising it to return the creature, she continued, "you did your very best out there, and I'm proud of you for it. We'll do some more training and we'll definitely come back when we're both ready to be going at it."

"That battle was amazing!" Misty shouted from across the field as she placed a hand on top of one of Starmie's limbs. There was a wide grin plastered upon her face as she looked out to the girl that had just challenged her. The other girl gave a slight smile and then waved a hand slightly as if brushing it away in a manner that said, 'it really wasn't all that big...'.

"You really have a good grasp on commanding water-type Pokémon! I really do mean it when I say that that battle was amazing!" Misty replied, raising Starmie's own PokéBall and returning it. "Some things could use a little work, but I really like your battle tactics with them! Swing by some time again for just practice rounds with me! I'd love to get a good look at all the water-types that you use!"

At that, the other female's face turned a light shade of red as she grinned in turn and nodded. "That sounds like a lot of fun! Thanks a lot for the offer, Misty! I'll be sure to be back any time you're ready. Though, at the moment..." the girl looked up to the stands where Jaxx, Dixie and Jakkaru sat.

"It seems that you have other people that feel like they want to be battling you today. Don't want to hold them up any more than I have already. I'll be seeing you some time this weekend, then!" With that, the girl happily slung her purse up on her shoulder and made her way to the doors of the Gym with a slight bounce to her step.

Looking after her for a moment, Misty soon turned her attention to the three that were sitting in the stands and called up to them, "so! Which one of you is going to be battling me next?"

Dixie stood up almost immediately, causing Zalaras to slide down some in her hold. Adjusting her hold on Zalaras and making it so that she was more cradling him, she looked Misty square in the eye and gave her response, "I'm going to be your next challenger."

Misty's brow raised as she eyed the Charmander that Dixie held and then gave a slight smirk as she shook her head and walked back to her platform. Giving a slight wave of the have, Misty said to Dixie, "all right, then! Here's the Gym Battle rules for this time around! This match will be a three-on-three singles match. I'll hold no substitutions while you can switch out your Pokémon anytime during battle. Sound fair?"

"Uh... s-sure..." Dixie replied. She descended the rest of the stairs till she was flat on the floor. Placing Zalaras down on the ground, Dixie quickly jobbed over to where the other platform was and took her place there, Zalaras quickly tagging along at her heels. Looking down to the golden Charmander with a fond look, the colourfully-clad girl had to turn her attention back to Misty to see what she would be up against.

"Are you ready?" Misty asked, pulling a PokéBall from one of her holsters and holding it up with a slight smirk.

Dixie gave a nod. "I'm as ready as I'll ever be!"

"All right then! Horsea, go!" Misty called out, throwing the PokéBall out and releasing whatever was inside.

"A... Horsea..?" Dixie wondered aloud, giving a slight quizzical look to Misty's first choice of Pokémon before whipping out her PokéDex. Flipping it open and aiming the device to the small Pokémon that bobbed around in the water a bit, Dixie furrowed her brow as the Dex identified it for her: _'Horsea, the Dragon Pokémon. __Horsea eat small insects and moss off of rocks. If the ocean current turns fast, this Pokémon anchors itself by wrapping its tail around rocks or coral to prevent being washed away.'_

"... 'Dragon Pokémon'?" Dixie repeated, closing the PokéDex and then going to pocket it. She turned her gaze to the small seahorse-like Pokémon before reaching back and grabbing a PokéBall capsule from her messenger bag. Maximizing the capsule in her hand, Dixie glanced to Misty again and then tossed out the capsule.

"Then I'll take my chances with you, Scout!" Dixie announced.

The small Sentret appeared from the ball and then immediately rose up on its tail as it stood upon the platform. He stole a glance at Dixie before grinning some and then adjusting the small checkered fedora upon his head.

"Interesting choice for your first Pokémon..." Misty mused as she stared at the Sentret. "But don't think that that thing's going to have it easy against my Horsea! Horsea, use Smokescreen!"

Swimming forwards, the small blue seahorse-like Pokémon fired a thick cloud of smoke that wafted throughout the entire field that they were on. Though that was the case, Scout held his ground while trying to look through the smoke for some kind of opening that he could possibly be having on his opponent.

"Scout! Don't allow for the Smokescreen to faze you! You've gone through this kind of training with Zalaras when we were training to go back up against Forrest back in Pewter! Just use Foresight!" Dixie shouted as she had cupped her hands around her mouth.

"Sent!" came Sentret's response as he took in a deep breath and relaxed his senses the best that he could and looked around. He also kept his ears up as he continued to look around the for small Horsea that was somewhere in the waters that surrounded him.

"Smart move..." Misty murmured. "Foresight doesn't only allow for a normal-type Pokémon to be hitting ghost-types when it gets right down to it, but it also helps to allow for the Pokémon to be hitting an evasive foe. This girl's no pushover even though it's clear she's a beginning Trainer that just came from Pallet."

"Sen...!" Scout chirped as he picked up where the Horsea was.

Catching onto the faint sound, Dixie grinned and then gave the next command, "okay, Scout! Once you've found where that Horsea is, go in for a Fury Swipes attack!"

Grinning again to himself, Scout rose up on his tail once more and then leaped forwards to where he found the Horsea was. Raising his little paws, he showed off his little claws before landing in the water on top of the Horsea and flailing his arms wildly on the Horsea to be inflicting damage.

Whining loudly in shock and pain as the Sentret had starting to scratch rapidly across her while also trying to stay afloat, the Horsea thrashed about under Scout. She also closed her eyes as Scout continued to scratch at her small body with the Fury Swipes attack and gave another loud cry to at try and make Misty call out another move for her to be using.

Furrowing her brow as she looked out to the smoke in search for the two Pokémon, Misty clenched a fist and then just called out, "blast it back with Bubblebeam, Horsea!"

"Sea!" it confirmed before looking back up at Scout with her brow furrowed. The small Horsea's cheeks began to swell before a flurry of bubbles escaped her snout with a lot of force behind them. As the bubbles for the attack came into contact with Scout, the small mammal Pokémon was pushed back into the Smokescreen, away from Horsea. As the attack continued, Scout's small fedora had landed into the water, and he had landed against the red platform with a small 'thud'.

Scout pushed himself up to a standing position on the platform and then looked through the smog to see if he could pinpoint the Horsea again since now the Smokescreen was obscuring his vision once more. He rose his hands to adjust his hat though grabbed nothing. Blinking a moment, Scout looked to the left and right of him in search of the small fedora before furrowing his brow and growling loudly.

"Scout! Are you okay?" Dixie called out into the smokescreen as she looked to the cloud that still lingered there above the pool. She looked around the dark smoke and tried to spot the Sentret, but to no avail.

"Sen, sen sentret!" Scout called back, furrowing his brow in annoyance. He continued for a moment to look around the visible waters around him for the familiar brown and white checkered hat while also keeping his eyes out for the Horsea that was still in the arena.

The smog slowly began to clear and Scout looked further out to what he could. Staring out more, he became rigid as soon as he saw the Horsea... with a soaked brown and white checkered fedora sitting upon her head as she stared right back at him. Looking at that hat upon that Horsea's head made Scout clench his little white paws into fists.

"Oh... I know!" Dixie exclaimed as she continued to look to the smog. "Scout! Try a Quick Attack across the platforms to clear the smokescreen!"

Another growl escaped the rodent's mouth as he grit his teeth and then eyed the nearest platform over. Taking the command in mind, Scout quickly ran off the red platform he stood upon and started to jump from floating platform to floating platform. It only seemed that with each step, his movements became quicker, and soon, the smoke from Horsea's attack began to fade off into the air as it thinned with each passing movement from Scout.

"Now, Scout!" Dixie shouted with a small hint of excitement to her voice as she was able to see the field now. "Rush in for the attack!"

"Sentre, sentret!" Scout snarled as he leaped from one of the platforms and angled forwards to slam his plmp little body into the Horsea that was there. Scout made contact with the Horsea and grabbed his small fedora in the process. Making the Horsea move back several feet in the water, Scout had landed on another platform's edge and had to be crawling back up to be on it properly, the fedora tightly clenched between his teeth as he stood up straight.

Shaking her head and gathering her composure, the Horsea looked back to where Scout stood and then furrowed her brow. The gaze was met by the perturbed one that Scout sported upon his face as he chattered loudly and pointed angrily up at his hat before straightening it and pulling it tight onto his head.

"Horsea! Are you okay after that?" Misted asked, giving a worried look to the Pokémon that she had out. She watched it give a small nod and then clenched a fist with a grin. "Good then! Go ahead and give that Sentret your Water Gun attack!"

Maneuvering forwards quickly through the water, the Horsea neared the platform where Scout stood and then aimed its snout for him before firing a strong jet of water for him. A light, shocked gasp could be heard from Dixie as the stream of water hit the Sentret square in the chest and sent him back into the pool.

Scout's little claws dug into the platform's side as he toppled in the the water, and he tried to pull himself back up. Seeing this opportune moment, Misty took it and shouted back out to her Horsea, "gain in on it with Agility, Horsea! Then use Twister!"

Taking her Trainer's commands in stride, Horsea quickly swam towards Scout before he even got the chance to be getting all the way up on the platform and then began to spin her body rapidly in the waters beside him. Perking his ears up in shock to what was going on, Scout looked around with an alarmed expression and then closed his eyes before being brought up into the air and into the Twister attack that Horsea was giving.

"Mnng... he's down for the moment, but he's not unable to battle entirely, I'll save him for later. Scout, return!" Dixie called out, raising the fedora marked capsule and withdrawing the small rodent Pokémon to it. The coloufully-clad girl looked down to the capsule with an sympathetic look and minimized it before putting it back in her back and withdrawing another ball capsule from it.

"Sorry Scout... maybe in a bit you'll be able to come back out and battle again. In the meantime... Riese! Come on out! It's your turn to battle!" Dixie announced, throwing the four-point star marked capsule out. Bursting forth from the capsule, the Butterfree fluttered about and then looked down to the Horsea (who seemed to be panting heavily from the battle it had been having with Scout).

"Riese! Start off the battle and hit it with Gust!" the dark-haired female commanded, furrowing her brow slightly as she continued to get more into the battle that stood at hand.

Hovering higher into the air, Riese locked her gaze to the Horsea that was down below her and then began to beat her wings swiftly to create a strong airstream before Misty even had a chance to be telling Horsea what to be doing next. The winds caused the waters to ripple and soon, Horsea was left trying to fight against the winds that the Butterfree was creating.

Unable to continue fighting against the winds due to fatigue, Horsea stopped moving her dorsal fin around so much and then moved back with the gust attack. Closing her eyes, she was soon brought out of the water due to the sheer force of the winds that the Butterfree had been creating and been slammed into the side of the pool wall where she just floated there while listening to her Trainer's worried shouts.

"Darn it..." Misty muttered, raising Horsea's capsule and returning her to it. The ginger smiled a bit to Dixie before putting the capsule away and said to her, "you're pretty good! Though let's see how well your Pokémon can hold up against their next opponent! Golduck, go!"

Retrieving another PokéBall from her holster, Misty threw it out and released the blue duck-like Pokémon out into the pool. As the white light had faded, the Golduck had immediately taken to diving down into the water to wake itself up before bursting through the water's surface and landing on the blue platform that was there before Misty. He eyed the Butterfree critically before stealing a glance to its Trainer and giving a slight cackle.

_'Is that thing... mocking us..?'_ Dixie thought, clenching her jaw and pulling her PokéDex from her pocket again. Glancing down to the screen of the PokéDex as Golduck's image appeared on the screen, Dixie listened to the information that followed: _'Golduck, the Duck Pokémon. Golduck is the fastest swimmer among all Pokémon. It __swims effortlessly, even in a rough, stormy sea. It sometimes rescues people from wrecked ships floundering in high seas. Golduck is also said to appear by waterways at dusk. It may use telekinetic powers if its forehead glows mysteriously.'_

Dixie found herself to be biting at her lower lip in nervousness as she looked out to Riese and pocketed the Dex. There was a lot going though her mind at the moment, but the main thing that she had to keep her focus on was what would be happening if she allowed for her to be getting her guard down while Misty commanded that Golduck. The Dex had already stated the things that Riese's opponent was capable of, the question at hand now was, was if Dixie could be teaming up well enough with Riese to be keeping her in the battle that was about to be going on.

"Alright, Riese! Keep your distance and attack with Stun Spore!" Dixie called out, her forehead breaking out in a small sweat as she tried not to think about losing this Gym match.

Fluttering about the pool's surface, the Butterfree kept her eye on the Golduck that was there before her and then started to release a small yellow cloud of the paralyzing spores. Staring up at the cloud for a good moment before blinking and hopping back onto another platform, Golduck looked back to Misty.

"Dive into the water to avoid the attack, Golduck. When you're ready, come back up for a Zen Headbutt!" Misty said, glancing back up at the Butterfree and then paralyzing cloud of spores that were engulfing the field arena. Her attention dawned back onto Golduck as the Pokémon had jumped from the platform it was on and dove into the water headfirst. A slight smile crept onto Misty's lips at that, though it quickly faded as she saw that the entire pool's surface had a relatively thick cloud of the Butterfree's Stun Spore coated over on top of it.

Continuing to flutter around the top of the pool, Riese scanned the waters to be seeing just where the Golduck had dove off to, but there was no such luck on her part. The Golduck had dived down deep enough to where she couldn't see to where he had gone off to. A few minute passed as the Butterfree continued to scan the water's surface before the Golduck burst forth, his head shrouded with a white and blue energy, and rammed right into Riese.

Flapping her wings almost helplessly, Riese began to descend quickly and soon came to landing in the water. The spores that had settled on top of the water also began to effect the bug-type. After a few seconds of flailing about in the water, Riese's movements began to slow and after a moment, she was just lying on her back on the water's surface. Dixie had called out to the butterfly-like Pokémon several times, though the Butterfree remained unresponsive as her chest heaved with each breath she took in.

Giving up after a moment, Dixie merely shook her head and held up the PokéBall to return the Butterfree. "You did a really great job, Riese, but I guess you just weren't a match for that Golduck. Sorry, girl...."

"So it's even now..." Jaxx commented, keeping his gaze out on Dixie as he did.

"Seems that way," Jakkaru responded, cradling the small Swablu in her arms as she, too, looked out to the arena. She gave a light sigh before she watched as Dixie pulled out another ball capsule from her messenger bag and toss it back out onto the red platform before her.

Scout was out again, though he looked rather worn down from the previous match with Misty's Horsea. Swallowing his fatigue, Scout balled up his fists and started at the Golduck, knowing that it was his new opponent for this time around.

"Watch out for the water, Scout! The surface has Riese's Stun Spore littered all over on it," Dixie warned, keeping her eye on the rodent-like Pokémon.

"Sentret sen!" Scout responded, looking at the water and noting the small yellow colouration to it now. Taking in a deep breath and looking to where the Golduck stood, Scout braced himself for any attack that may be prepared to be coming his way and awaited orders from Dixie.

"All right, Golduck! Start this battle out with Water Pulse!" Misty called out, glancing to Dixie for a moment.

Bringing his hands out in front of him, the Golduck began to close his eyes and then prepared the attack. Water started to build and swell into a ball in between the palms of his webbed hands. As the sphere grew, Dixie clenched her jaw and shouted out to Scout while she still had the time to be doing so, "go forwards with Quick Attack before that Golduck is able to carry out the attack!"

Quickly nodding and darting off the platform, Scout began to jump from platform to platform again before landing on the same platform that the Golduck stood on. A small smirk appeared on the Sentret's face as he leaped up and slammed his body into the Golduck's face, knocking him off balance and back into the water.

"Try to dive down to avoid the Stun Spore that's still there, Golduck!" Misty shouted, a look of worriment appearing on her face. It seemed, however, that Misty had called out to the duck-like Pokémon too late, though. The Pokémon had laid face down in the water for a while without budging as he, too, had been affected by the Stun Spore, much like the Pokémon that had spread it. Soon, the Golduck was engulfed in a beam of red light as Misty took out the ball to be calling him back to it.

"You're not half bad, kid! But let's see how well you and your Pokémon last for the last round!" Misty exclaimed while putting the PokéBall away. Jumping up some and withdrawing her last PokéBall capsule for this round, Misty looked to Dixie with a rather critical expression upon her face. Taking in a deep breath, Misty reeled back in her mind for a moment and then threw the capsule out onto the field without any formal announcement to it.

The ball landed on the blue platform and stayed there for a good few moments before bursting open and revealing a rather large Pokémon still bathed within white light. The ball seemed to retreat back to Misty as the light faded, and soon, the familiar Starmie that Dixie and the others had seen the other girl do battle with was standing there before them all. The only thing that was noticeable, however, was the fact that the Starmie looked refreshed and willing to do battle at any given moment, despite having been in battle just a good few moments ago.

"No way... that Starmie looks like it's in good as new condition!" Jaxx exclaimed, furrowing his brow some as he clenched his fist some.

"It may have been able to use Recover when Misty had it battling against that other girl..." Jakkaru remarked, hugging the baby Swablu a little more closely to her. The baby Pokémon chirped up at her with a slightly disgruntled tone to his chirps as he shifted and settled more comfortably in Jakkaru's arms.

Giving a wary glance to the Starmie, Dixie swallowed and felt a bead of sweat trickle down her face as she looked back to Scout. She had also noticed the Starmie's condition and was wondering as to why it was that the Pokémon looked hardly fatigued as well. Her fingertips twitched for a moment before she reached back into her pocket and pulled out the PokéDex for a third time.

Flipping it open to be scanning the Starmie, Dixie kept her eyes on the field and listened as the robotic voice arose to where only she could be hearing it: _'Starmie, the Mysterious Pokémon. Starmie swims through water by spinning its star-shaped body as if it were a propeller on a ship. The core at the center of this Pokémon's body glows in seven colours.'_

"... Its... core... glows in seven different colours?" Dixie reiterated, looking down to her PokéDex before closing it and pocketing it once more. Her brow knitted together as she rose her gaze to be looking out to where the Starmie stood, and sure enough, the core seemed to be dully alternating between the spectrum as it stood there. Raising her thumb to her mouth, Dixie bit down on her nail and continued to look at the starfish-like Pokémon.

_'Switches between colours.... Now I know I must definitely get one on my team when I find one. That, or a Staryu!'_ Dixie thought to herself, a slight smile growing upon her face as she looked to it. Tearing her gaze away from it to be looking to Misty, Dixie grinned broadly and shouted out to her, "your Starmie's a beautiful Pokémon! I didn't really get to see it up close when I was up in the stands with my friends when you were battling the other girl, but it really is amazing!"

"Amazing isn't the only thing my Starmie is!" Misty called back, a grin of her own spreading wide across her face as her gaze met Dixie's. "You'll be seein' soon when this Gym match comes to an end! I'm sorry, Dixie. You're a great Trainer from what I've seen of ya so far, but I'm sad to tell ya that this is gonna be your downfall! Starmie! Start with Camouflage and dive into the water!"

"Dive into the pool? But the Stun Spore's still–" Dixie started before seeing Starmie's body became almost completely translucent (save for its core) as it engaged in the attack and soon dove into the pool. Both Dixie and Scout had watched what they could of the Starmie as it disappeared from view, wondering if the Stun Spore would have effected it any. However, with how the both of them stared at the waters, and saw the faint glowing of the core, it became clear that the Starmie was impervious to the spores.

"Nng..." Dixie sighed, gritting her teeth and clenching her hands into fists. She stole a worried glance to Scout and furrowed her brow. The Sentret was breathing heavily, and Dixie could already see that the poor creature's body was trembling with fatigue as he continued to stand there at the ready.

"... Continues to stand there for me..." Dixie murmured, reaching back into her bag and pulling out the fedora-marked capsule and holding it up after enlarging it. "I'm sorry Scout. I don't want to put you through any more. You're tired as it is, and you've done a good job so far anyways! So thanks. Return!"

Misty rose her brow some to Dixie's actions and kept to herself as she watched the younger girl withdraw the Sentret from battle and look to the PokéBall with a warm expression on her face. Dixie put the ball away and then withdrew one last one that had a lightning-bolt shaped mark on it.

"Heh... guess I'm out two Pokémon and down to my last..." Dixie commented, looking to Misty with a smile on her face as she maximized the new capsule in her hand.

"'Out two Pokémon'?" Jaxx questioned, blinking down to Dixie. "But her Sentret's still able to battle if it wanted. Why is she calling him down for the count?"

"It's sad that you've known her longer than me, and yet you're totally hopeless when it comes to analyzing her..." Jakkaru replied, not breaking her gaze from the arena.

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" Jaxx hissed, glaring to the brunette that sat beside him.

"Exactly what it sounds like..." Jakkaru said, turning her head to look to him. Her expression had become from placid to stern as her gaze bore into him. "Dixie's that carefree girl that one rarely runs into every once in a while. Though, despite that carefree-ness that she shows to the public, deep down, she's compassionate and stands for the people and the Pokémon that she shares a close bond with. Which is fortunate for you, because if I were her, I would have left you to travel on your own back to where you live a long time ago."

"... Why would she have a close bond with me in the first place is the question now..." Jaxx muttered, frowning and looking back out to where Dixie stood.

Drawing her hand back to throw the capsule out, Dixie was soon stopped by several hard tugs on her pant leg. Looking down, her questioning expression was met by a perturbed expression that sat upon Zalaras' face. Dixie felt it as Zalaras tightened his hold on the fabric and then crouched down beside him with a sympathetic look.

Resting her hand on the top of his head, Dixie merely patted him lightly and gave a light chuckle. "I'm sorry, Zalaras. I'm sure that you were looking forward to having another Gym Battle... but we already discussed this. You would have the type-disadvantage, and if your tail flame goes out, you'd... well, I don't want to say what would happen. I care too much about you to lose you in a simple Gym match. So you're going to stay here, okay?"

"Charmander char!" Zalaras pleaded, pouting slightly as he rested his hands on Dixie's knee for a moment.

"I'm sorry Zalaras... you're sitting this one out," Dixie said, standing back up and drawing her hand back again to toss out the ball. As Dixie threw the ball forwards, Zalaras plopped down on the ground beside her and folded his arms over his chest with a miffed look upon his face.

"Pi pikachu!" announced the new Pokémon that had burst from the capsule. Sparks now stood on the blue platform that floated before Dixie, and he gave a rather happy look to Misty before turning back to Dixie and waving his arms some. Waving back to him, Dixie merely cheered him on, "that's the spirit to have, Sparks! Though be careful, kay? The Starmie took to the water! It could be anywhere! Stand your ground and prep for the next attack! Use Charge!"

Threads of electricity sparked from the Pikachu's cheeks as he furrowed his brow and stood on the platform on all fours. Soon, electrical charges ran along his body as Sparks continued the attack and waited for the Starmie to be making its appearance.

A smirk make its way onto Misty's face and she cupped her hands around her mouth, "Starmie! While the Pikachu is busy charging! Use Hydro Pump to send the platform up and knock it off balance!"

Sparks' ears perked up after a moment and he looked around, not knowing when to be expecting the attack that was called out. Tightening his jaw, Sparks continued to stand on the platform, braced and ready for releasing a strong electrical surge. Before he had gotten fully charged up, the waters started to move violently, and the platform was soon tossed about on the water's surface before it rose into the air and sailed straight into the rafters of the Gym with a very alarmed Pikachu upon it.

"Sparks! Use Agility and jump down to the nearest platform!" Dixie quickly commanded, looking up to where the Hydro Pump was sending her teammate in shock. A sigh of relief escaped her lips as she saw a small yellow blur jump down onto one of the other floating platforms. Sparks still had a few small lightning bolts sparking from his cheeks and body as he furrowed his brow and looked around.

"Out of the water, Starmie! Looks like we're going to have to do things a little more differently!" Misty said, furrowing her brow to the Pikachu. The Starmie burst from the water's surface several moments later, and landed on a platform that was only a couple away from where Sparks stood. It also seemed that the Starmie had kept up with its Camouflage attack, as one could still see through it somewhat.

"Okay Starmie! Before anything else happens! Minimize!" Misty commanded.

The translucency faded off as the Starmie began to shrink its image and soon it was the size of Sparks, himself. The Pikachu scoffed lightly and glared at the Starmie a bit, his tail twitching with the built up electricity that was now charged to its peak within him.

Pursing her lips, Dixie narrowed her eyes to the now tiny Starmie and then looked back to Sparks. Releasing a breath, the dark-haired female pumped a fist into the air and shouted out to the Pikachu, "alright, Sparks! Just because that Starmie's a different size doesn't mean that you're not going to hit it any less easily than you could have when it was normal sized! Keep your charge and use Quick Attack!"

"Pi!" Sparks answered back, slamming a paw against the platform before rushing forwards and leaping from platform to platform. A smug look crossed Sparks' face as he neared, though it disappeared as quickly as it came as soon as he heard Misty's next instruction for the Starmie, "now! Use Power Gem while it's close!"

"No! Sparks won't be able to dodge them!" Dixie exclaimed, her eyes widening.

The core of the Starmie's body glowed white, and soon, sharp projectiles of energy shot forth. Many of the gems missed Sparks initially, though several had caught him right as he was a foot away from the Starmie. With the force of the gems that had been shot his way, Sparks rocketed backwards and into the water with a splash.

"No... no, no, no, no, no!" Dixie repeated, falling to her knees. " At this rate, it's going to be over for sure! And after all that training that we went through when we had the time!"

"Char! Charmander charman char! Charmander!" Zalaras spoke up, getting back up to his feet and jumping up and down. Dixie turned her head to look to the golden lizard and then watch as he flailed his arms to the water with a determined look on his face.

"I told you that you can't!" Dixie said, frowning.

Shaking his head, Zalaras merely brought his hands to his cheeks and then pointed out to the waters again.

Staring at him for a moment and then immediately turning her head at the sound of water splashing and a sharp intake of air being made, Dixie rose her brow and quickly stood back up on her feet.

"That's it! Water conducts electricity! I almost forgot! Sparks! Thunderbolt, now! Before the spores that are still in the water effect you" Dixie nearly screamed, trying to get through to the flailing Pikachu that bobbed around in the water. The flailing stopped some and Sparks looked back to Dixie before turning his attention back to the Starmie and having that smirk return upon his face.

It was Misty's turn to go wide-eyed as the electrical rodent discharged a powerful Thunderbolt attack right in the water. However, her gaze quickly reverted from lingering on the Pikachu to looking at the minimized Starmie. Her expression quickly became from worried to shocked. The water that stayed on the Starmie's body attracted the electrical currents, and soon, the starfish-like Pokémon was being electrocuted as well.

"Starmie, no!" Misty yelled.

"I think this battle's over!" Dixie grinned, watching as Sparks finished up the attack and then started to swim for the edge of the nearest platform. He turned his head back to look at the Starmie and his gaze hardened. The Starmie still stood there, though the jewel at its core flashed weakly before the Pokémon just tipped over backwards and landed on its back against the platform with a rather loud thud.

"Starmie..." Misty shakily let out, looking to Dixie in disbelief as the Pikachu had made his way back up onto the platform and then jumped over to where Dixie stood to being up in her arms. Giving a slight shake of her head, Misty pulled out Starmie's ball capsule and called back the water-type Pokémon and then looked back to Dixie.

"Looks like I kind of underestimated you after I saw how soft you became towards your Sentret..." Misty announced, walking around the pool to be nearing Dixie. "It's rare to see Trainers that will go out of their way to be protecting their Pokémon, even if for just a meager Gym Battle. Though, with the way your Pokémon seem to respond and react to you, I can tell already that your Pokémon are closely bonded with you. You're lucky."

Turning her attention to Misty, Dixie tilted her head and gave her a slightly quizzical expression. "Well... I don't know about all of that... I mean, I love my friends, sure. I'd do anything just to see them or other Pokémon happy and well." With that, Dixie looked back to Zalaras and then crouched down again with Sparks in her hold before raising a free hand and patting the golden Charmander on the head.

"It's why I didn't want to be sending Zalaras out to be battling. I know he loves to battle right now, but... if I lost him just cos his tail got doused, I don't know what I'd do. Even though he's hard to deal with at times and a bit of a stick in the mud more times than not, he's one of the best friends I've got – and I've always considered him as such ever since I got him from Professor Oak."

"Heh... you remind me of someone I used to know and travel with..." Misty said, smiling with a knowing gleam in her eye. Digging in her pocket and pulling her hand out after a moment with a teardrop shaped, blue badge in her hand, Misty said to the younger female, "it makes me proud to be presenting someone like you with this Cascade Badge."

Holding her hand out Dixie, Misty waited till the younger female was holding out her own hand before placing the Cascade Badge in the palm of Dixie's hand. Grinning some as she moved her hand to closing Dixie's fingers over the badge, Misty glanced back to where Jaxx and Jakkaru sat and just shook her head.

"Ah, nostalgia..." Misty murmured before turning her head back to look at Dixie. "Well, with that, you're another badge closer to being able to get to face off in the League. I wish you luck. Though, with how you raise your Pokémon you have and the friends that are with you, I don't think you're going to need it."

"Hehe... Thanks a lot, Misty. It means a lot coming from a Gym Leader."

* * *

The Cascade Badge glinted blue in the air as Dixie held it up high with a grin plastered on her face.

"You look happier than usual..." Jaxx remarked, shoving his hands into his pockets as he walked alongside Dixie and Jakkaru on the road to be getting somewhere to be eating. He kicked a rock and looked away as he continued to walk, though he was cut short, as were the other two, when they saw someone standing there before them.

"So! Looks like little miss colourful was able to beat Misty! Not that it matters – after all, you're still steps behind me, and I doubt that's going to change any time soon!" rang out a familiar voice. The trio had looked to the male that was standing there before them. There was the same pair of brownish-green eyes and that medium-length dirty blond hair that sat atop his head as the three kept their attention glued to the male as he stood there.

"What do you want, Ivan?" Dixie spat, hastily going to put her newly acquired badge.

"You don't know?" Ivan jeered, grinning with a smug expression on his face as he did. "I saw you at the Pokémon Center and I know your Pokémon are pretty much good to be going." He hardened his look as he focused in on Dixie and then stepped towards her to where he was only a good few inches away from her.

"I want that battle. Now."


End file.
